Drifting Apart
by Sapphirine
Summary: Starfire and Raven disappear mysteriously, and when the remaining Titans discover their captor, Robin is forced to choose between saving Starfire or Raven; the one left behind is certain to die. After the skirmish, Robin, desperate to regain his team's trust, quits the team to find the lost Titan. *NOW WITH A SEQUEL, From the Ashes REBORN*
1. Chapter 1

**_I don't own Teen Titans and probably, sadly, never will. I don't own any of the ideas of the references referring back to the original show or the ideas of the characters. The current events in this fanfiction are also not part of the show._  
**

**Chapter 1  
**

Robin jolted awake to the sound of the screaming sirens, the tower flashing a darkish red as the in-built alarm system went off. He jumped out of bed, annoyed. It seemed as if the city would never allow him a full-night's rest. _Today couldn't get worse. _He thought hopefully, running down the darkened hallways of the tower as the incessant alarm threatened to leave him deaf in both ears.

The automatic doors in the main room flew open as he sprinted in, glancing at Beastboy and Cyborg who waited, alarmed the continuous blare of the alarms. Chagrined that the team leader had arrived later than the notorious procrastinator when sleeping, also known as Beastboy, he turned to the screen at the end of the room.

"Who is it?" yelled Cyborg, shaking his fists. "I swear, if it's that skinny wimp Brother Blood again, I'll take him down with one hand unscrewed, I'll-"

"No," Robin interrupted, "It's not Brother Blood."

Cyborg's face fell. "He got away without a pounding this time." He grumbled unhappily. His face immediately lightened up again, nudging Robin with a smug grin. "It might not be my old friend, but look who showed up!"

Robin looked up at the blinking icon on the city map displayed on the screen. "Killer Moth." He snarled. He instantly flushed red when he put two and two together.

Beastboy and Cyborg erupted laughing despite the possible danger awaiting them. "Kitten!" Cyborg teased him joyfully in a taunting voice. "Robin's old girlfriend!"

Embarrassed, Robin tried to retrieve his dignity by yelling angrily, "She's **_not my girlfriend!_****"**

Cyborg just grinned back. "Right, because you already have a girlfriend. The beautiful _Starfire._ Don't think I've forgotten about the whole Tokyo thing."

Desperate to divert the conversation, Robin snapped, "Where's Starfire and Raven? Beastboy, you're the fastest. Go and check."

Beastboy complained, "Dude, I've already lost my beauty sleep!" Unwillingly, he transformed into a cheetah, running off into the flashing darkness. Only moments later, he bounded back, transforming smoothly back into his human form. "Nowhere," he said, shrugging. "Checked everywhere."

"We have to go, _now._" Robin snapped. "The alarm sounded ten minutes ago. We'll have to take Killer Moth down ourselves."

"What in your spiky, smart-alecky, know-it-all cranium are you thinking?" Cyborg yelled, prodding Robin hard on the head. "We're a _team._ No man—or girl—left behind!"

Robin turned back to him, annoyed. "We don't _have time._ I would prefer searching of them first, too, but think about it—Killer Moth could have won by this time." He ran off, not caring if they followed.

Beastboy transformed into a cheetah, ready to run after Robin, muscles tense to sprint off of top speed. Catching a raised eyebrow from Cyborg, he gave him an unsure shrug before following his leader into the darkness.

"Man, I hate it when that kid thinks he's the deal." Cyborg muttered, breaking into a run after them. "I swear I'll give the guy a good pep talk when the dirty job's done."

Robin skidded to a stop in front a dark warehouse, scanning the solid garage door. "Cyborg, do you have enough juice for your sonic cannon to blast this thing down?" he asked, not really sounding if he was asking.

Cyborg sighed. "Got it." He blasted the warehouse door. It fell, smoking, the puncture hole molten, with a loud clatter.

Robin didn't even look back at Cyborg as he crept into the warehouse.

The old frame was musty, dim, and damp, reminding Robin with a shudder of the warehouse on Pier 41 where Slade had stored the chronoton detonator before moving it. _Forget it, _he told himself. _Slade's gone._ As he scanned his poorly lighted surroundings, he reminded himself, _Slade was never found after the fight with Trigon, never caught. Maybe this is another one of his games-_ His thoughts were interrupted by a loud _crack_ as he whirled around, collapsible bo staff ready to whack someone unconscious.

Beastboy stared back at him sheepishly. "Oops." he said. "Didn't see that stick lying there."

"Be more careful." Robin growled, collapsing his metal staff. "We can't afford any more of the team getting hurt."

Cyborg shouldered Beastboy aside. "Look here, man. You've been so grumpy and bossy and skittish these last days. Beastboy stepped on a _stick._ What gives?"

Robin snarled, "Nothing. Let's just get the job over with."

Beastboy looked at him, "Dude, you've been so like Slade these days. Seriously, what happened?"

Robin whipped around to face them, snarling. "For the last time, _I am nothing like Slade._"

Beastboy and Cyborg both stared at him with one eyebrow raised, obviously not buying it.

Robin turned away, fuming as he stalked ahead of them.

Cyborg shook his head and looked at Beastboy, who shrugged back at him. "What can we do?" Beastboy asks. "He's the leader."

Robin spotted a yellowed canvas lying on the floor of the warehouse and stopped, throwing his arm back to signal that the others follow suit.

"So what?" Beastboy snorted. "It's a piece of cloth. Big whup."

Robin ignored his comment, looking at the canvas suspiciously. "This entire warehouse is empty, so why is there a random piece of cloth lying around?"

"Because someone forgot to pick it up?" Beastboy supplied nervously.

Robin shot him a glare, "You're missing the point." He looked pointedly at Cyborg.

Cyborg glared back at Robin. "Dude, I'm not your personal slave." He shot the piece of fabric with his cannon angrily in a circular motion. As the smoke cleared up, the canvas had a burnt hole in it and eight inches of steel below. A circular piece of metal clattered to the ground below them, leaving a good-sized hole.

Robin cast a meaningful glance at Beastboy before jumping into the hole.

Beastboy glared after him, "I take that back. You're more like Raven."

Cyborg shook his head. "What is his deal? I"m beginning to doubt he's even one of the good guys now."

They could do nothing but follow him through the hole.

Robin glanced down the forked hallway towards a pulsing blue light. "That way." he ordered, whisking off to the left without waiting for an answer.

Cyborg and Beastboy ran after him in silence.

As they emerged into the light, all three Titans froze.

In the center of the room were Starfire and Raven, hung by their throats in iron claws, head down, eyes closed. Neither of them were moving.

"No," Robin whispered, barely able to get any sound out.

"But yes," a voice laughed, as a third figure emerged into the light. "Hello again, Robby-poo!"

_[Hope you enjoyed it! I'll take any suggestions to edit and improve. :) Going to write some more soon!]_


	2. Chapter 2

_**{blankytherockdorkinsnob- Thanks for the compliment! :D They were abducted before the alarm, which is why they didn't run out to meet the others and why Beastboy couldn't find them. If they hadn't been woken up by the alarm, they would be still in their rooms. In the story, Beastboy says "Tried everywhere."**_

_**XAngelWithoutWingsX- :D Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it! It's actually Robin and- you know what? You'll see. ;) Not a big Starfire fan either (no offense meant to those who are) but I'm writing about Robin so Starfire must play a rather major role in this story}**_

**Chapter 2**

Starfire's green eyes blinked open, defeated. When she caught sight of Robin, she began to struggle weakly, "Robin! Please, go away from this terrible place!"

Robin's mask became two wide Os. "What? H-how?"

Kitten stood in the spotlight, in a pale pink gown with a feathery white rose pinned near her right shoulder, a pink headband sweeping her hair back, her blonde hair let loose down her shoulder. Robin's mask narrowed to slits as he realized this was the outfit she had worn at the prom he had been forced to take her too. She was taunting him, and he didn't appreciate it.

"I told you you would pay, Robby-poo. Have you come back to apologize?" she purred.

Robin snatched a gadget from his utility belt, the small object elongating into a red and yellow sword. "When I'm through with you, you'll be the one to apologize." he snarled maliciously, charging at her, ready to slice her to ribbons.

Kitten laughed lightly, holding up a remote. "You won't do anything to me as long as I have her!" she declared triumphantly, then lowered her voice into a silky purr again. "Don't you want to know, Robby-poo dear, what this remote can do?"

Robin stopped mid-charge immediately, glancing up quickly at Starfire and Raven where they still hung, motionless and vulnerable. Gritting his teeth, he collapsed his weapon and stored it back into his belt. "Talk. Fast." he growled.

Kitten laughed again, tossing back her blonde hair, which infuriated Robin to no end. "This remote," she began, "controls the iron claw which holds your dear sweethearts."

Robin cringed at the plural noun which Kitten had deliberately used as Starfire's eyes widened and narrowed at Robin. "Did she say _sweethearts_?" she asked, heartbroken and cold.

"Star, I-uh... No! I mean yes! I mean," Robin began awkwardly, shaking his head and frowning at himself. "I mean, Star, Raven's not my girlfriend-"

Starfire's eyes had already closed, tears streaming down her face. "I thought you were the one." she said quietly, hanging limper in the claw.

Robin turned with a scathing, furious glare to Kitten worthy of withering even Slade. She shrank away a bit, before quickly regaining composure.

"Right, as I was saying," Kitten purred. "This remote has multiple controls. I have multiple options for the claw; squeeze, electrify, blades, heat and cold, and some other _useful applications-_" her eyes gleamed malevolently.

Robin could have sworn his eye was twitching uncontrollably. "The moment they're out of danger-" he began threateningly.

"That's not necessary, Robby-poo dear." Kitten purred. "Your Kitten- _miaaow_- has allowed them to go free. because I hate to see you suffer so." She twirled the remote in her hands."

Robin jabbed a finger at Kitten, "Well, what are you waiting for? Deactivate the remote!"

Kitten laughed again, the sound making Robin's stomach lurch in apprehension. "Oh, poor Robby-poo. You don't understand, do you?" She gestured at the hanging captors with a negligent flick of her wrists. "Only _one of them_ can go free. Or else your poor Kitten will get lonely!" She smiled, making a cold chill go up Robin's spine. "And I"ll let you choose."

Robin recoiled in shock. _I can't possibly let one of my team just hang here a rot._ he thought anxiously.

Kitten, seeing Robin's distress, mock-comforted him. "My little birdy, dear, no worries. Whoever you don't pick will close their eyes in peace- _forever!" _Her pale blue eyes blazed with the pure anticipation. "And just to guarantee it, I'll _make you watch!_"

Robin looked up at the two girls, who watched him, both of their eyes wide with fear, staring down at him. He turned back to Kitten, unable to make a choice. "What if you choose?"

Kitten cocked her head to one side. "If I choose," she tossed her hair over her shoulder, "I'll choose _me. _And kill _both_ of them."

Beastboy remarked, "Well, we wouldn't want that."

Cyborg nudged him with his elbow. "Shut up, grass stain. Robin's having a moment here."

Robin's head was threatening to explode, weighing Starfire and Raven against each other. _Starfire or Raven. Raven or Starfire. Starfire or- ugh!_ He glanced up at the two girls again. _How can I make a choice about who's going to die or not._

"Hurry, Robby-poo. Kitten's getting impatient!" Kitten called happily.

Robin gritted his teeth. He caught Raven's scared face, and tried to steel himself for the inevitable. "Give me Starfire." he choked out at Kitten.


	3. Chapter 3

_**{blankytherockdorkinsnob- Gosh, you're right. I should have, but I'm not going back to do a V3, so... sorry. But that would have been a fragment anyways... I just realized that was really Pokemon-y. I will be quiet now and write, because I dare not find out what "or else" means...}**_

Raven's face contorted into pure terror at her death sentence.

Spotting Raven's horrified expression, Robin turned away. "I'm sorry, Raven." he whispered, hoping he wouldn't regret his choice. He decided he probably would. The Teen Titans was reduced to four.

Kitten smiled, "Don't change your mind, now, Robby-poo." She pressed a button on the remote, and the claw released Starfire, the alien free-falling to the ground with the utter lack of happiness to support her. Robin rushed toward her and caught her before she crashed into the concrete floor, gazing concernedly at her still face, his shocked fellow Titans, anywhere but the girl he had condemned to death.

"I should have smashed her with that file cabinet." Raven noted, emotionless, trying to whistle in the dark. But they all knew what was going to happen.

Kitten laughed, pressing more buttons. "You do realize, my dears," she laughed, "That this place is over an active volcano?" She grinned up at Raven crazily. "Warm up 'till you're all toasty, Rae-rae!" The claw began to glow increasingly red as Raven screamed in agony, straining at the searing iron. The ground began to open under her, magma glowing from the rift in the floor.

Beastboy glanced up and down at the magma, looking like he was going to cry. "Terra..." he whispered hoarsely, turning away. "Now Raven." Cyborg laid a comforting hand on the changeling's shoulder, but Beastboy pushed his hand away.

Robin clenched his jaw, glaring at Kitten. "You wouldn't. You're just bluffing, trying to scare me before rubbing in my face that you tricked me." At this point, he was more trying to comfort himself than accuse Kitten.

Kitten's cool composure flared for a moment, "Yes, I can and I will!" Shrieking like a madwoman, she swept up a nearby knife and hurled it at Robin. It missed, but scraped his right arm, drawing a fresh flow of blood. Robin hissed, grabbing his arm where the wound was, trying to stop the bleeding. "I want nothing more that to humiliate you, to torture you for my disgrace!" She walked toward Robin, grabbing his shirt and pulling him close. "And my," she whispered menacingly. "Am I good at that."

"You're not psychotic, crazy, over-ambitious, mad, or underprivileged." Robin snarled, his mask narrowing to slits. "You're just a spoiled, selfish _brat_."

Kitten threw him sideways, Robin crashing hard into the wall. "Say what you like, Robby-poo." she said, grinning evilly. "It won't change a thing for Rae-rae. It's too late for her."

Robin's face contorted into pure hate and rage, picking up the knife and charging at Kitten, screaming, blade ready to stab the girl, but Cyborg caught his left arm, pulling him back. "Don't make it harder for Raven." he told him sadly. "The girl's already in deep trouble."

Starfire nodded, taking Robin's hand in hers. "We must simply grieve for our friend Raven. For you to be hurt trying to save her in vain would only break her heart further and put you in grave danger. We do not want you to get hurt, Robin."

Robin scowled at Starfire. "You don't understand anything! None of you understand anything!" he yelled angrily. "You're just selfish and hate Raven just because you _think_ I'm cheating on you! You don't really care about her!" Temper blazing, he glared at the other Titans in turn. "None for you really care about her! You're just going through the motions!" He jabbed an accusing finger at Beastboy. "All you think is that she's some creepy, evil witch! None of you care!" He turned back to the tortured Raven hanging in the claw, struggling at her restraints. "None of you care but me." He whispered quietly, almost inaudible, and lowered his head.. A solitary teardrop ran down his cheek, leaving a salty trace. "And I care enough for the entire city, even the entire world."

"Robin, you must let go. Stop-" Starfire began comfortingly, but Robin cut her off.

"Stop what? Being humane, unlike the rest of you? For once, Starfire, for Pete's sake, _just shut up!"_

Starfire let go of Robin, backing away like she had been whacked in the face. "I-" she turned away, crying. Robin watched her guiltily, every instinct in his body telling me to go and apologize to her, beg forgiveness, but the angry, almost feral wave of fury completely drowned out all of his conscience.

Beastboy walked straight up to Robin without any trace of fear, an angry glare on his face. "Dude, lose the attitude!" he shouted. "She was just trying to help you! Jeezawheez, dude!"

"Yeah, man." Cyborg said, glaring down at Robin. "Don't need to depress another girl."

"I don't need help." Robin hissed. "And if you all are just going to sit there doing nothing and babble like babies about how horrible Raven's death was, be my guest. But as for me, I'm going to bring her back, whatever it takes." He began to charge at Kitten again, birdarang ready.

Raven's eyes lit up as she saw Robin defending her, but Kitten smirked. "Hate to crush your little daydreams, Rae-rae." She smashed the remote into the ground, stamping on the short-circuiting device.

"No," Raven whispered in fear as the claw released its grip on her. "_No!_" she screamed in terror as she plummeted straight down into the molten magma as the floor began to re-cover the crater.

"Raven!" Robin shouted, running for Raven as her terrified face began to sink under the rock, struggling against the magma.

Starfire watched Robin regretfully. "I swore to myself I would never hurt my closest friend again, but for your good, please forgive me, Robin." She looked away as her hand heated up in a starry, green blaze, and released the star-bolt. It hit, and Robin fell to the ground, screaming as the energy burned him, the world rapidly dimming in front of his eyes.

Right before the world went black, Robin saw Raven's lips move in a soundless plea. "Save me." she whispered, and the floor closed completely over her, sealing her to her death.


	4. Chapter 4

_**{Sorry update was so slow. My mom prohibited me from the computer, so I snuck on.**_

_**emailgoose- in chapter 2, it read that claw that held Raven heated up drastically, so she would have been too dazed.**_

_**blankytherockdorkinsnob- Again, about Raven, she was dazed. And why Starfire could burn it, um, she was tranquilized? I dunno. My best explanation is that Starfire and Raven are quite skilled, so they would have to fight hard, so fatigue?! And it's the middle of the night..  
**_

_**Nkcandygirl- On it. :D  
**_

_**XAngelWithoutWingsX- Umm... I dunno. But Cyborg did grab him and Starfire did blast him...  
**_

_**LoveTheStiches- I'll type as fast as I can.  
**_

_**XAngelWithoutWingsX- Umm... maybe, I can't promise...  
**_

_**Thanks guys for reading. ;) I never thought anyone would read this... O.o  
**_

_**And Robin fans, don't worry, Robin doesn't go psycho permanently, I just need him to be a little nutty.}  
**_

Robin woke up, aching all over in his bed. Dazed, he tried to remember what had happened, rubbing his forehead.

"Raven!" he called hoarsely. "Raven, I need to see you!"

Silence answered him. And then he realized what had happened the day before, the terrible truth.

_Oh, Raven. Why did you have to die?_

He slammed his head against the headboard, gritting his teeth. _If only I had found a way to save her _and _Starfire. __How could I be so stupid?_ He felt like crying.

So he did, not caring how stupid or babyish he looked. After all, he was alone in his bedroom.

A knock on the door sounded, hesitantly. "Go away!" he croaked angrily. "Leave me alone!"

"Robin?" Starfire's voice whispered quietly. "Are you good and well?"

"Go away!" he shouted, burying his face in the pillow. "Nothing will be 'good and well' with Raven dead!"

"Robin, I understand your grief, like when I lost my parents on Tama-"

Robin swept up a flowerpot, which was the closest thing to him. He hurled it at the door, the Terra-cotta shattering into curved fragments of clay. "Leave me _alone, Starfire! Go AWAY!_"

"Please, Robin, I just want to help, if you will just allow me to." Starfire said hesitantly, afraid to go on.

"I don't need help! I don't want help, and there's nothing anyone could do to bring back Raven!" he choked. "_For the last time, go away!"_

"Robin-" Starfire began, but a lower voice cut her off.

"Starfire, maybe he just needs some time to chill." Cyborg's voice sounded comfortingly. "He's just been through trauma, so he's a little bonkers."

The footsteps echoed away and disappeared. Instantly, Robin regretting what he had done. "I just keep on messing up." he hissed, slamming his head against the headboard again. "All I keep on doing is making people suffer!"

_Yes, Robin. We two are so alike. No wonder you made an excellent apprentice._

"No!" Robin screamed, clutching his head. "Stop! Go away!"

_Robin, I will never stop. I will always be here, haunting in your deepest thoughts. And this time, flipping the switch can't save you._

"Get out of my head!" Robin screamed, thrashing around. "It's just my imagination! You're _not real!_"

_Oh, Robin, but like you said, I was never found, never caught. So I am, so, very real. Accept it, Robin. Raven's not the only one with a dark, negative side. This is why you chose Starfire, to try to kill the truth that both Raven and you know._

"No!" Robin shrieked. "I'll never be like _you!_"

_Robin, consider it carefully. Do you want to keep on hurting your friends, your family? Let go. Leave the team._

"No! It's just the divide and conquer trick! I'll never turn my back on my friends!"

_Oh Robin, I hate to break the news to you, but you already have._

Robin realized he was right. "No," he whispered, but he knew very well that he had isolated his friends, made them suffer for something that had nothing to do with them, trying to relieve his own guilt.

Robin swept up a birdarang and sliced open his arm. Because, the physical pain felt better than the spiritual one. Blood flowed out, staining his bedsheets red, but he didn't care. "Just stop!" he cried. "Leave me!"

_Very well, then, but remember- we two are so much alike._

Slade's voice laughed once, hauntingly real, then his presence left his mind.

_We two are so much alike._ his voice haunted Robin, making him shivered. "I'll never be like you," he denied defiantly, but he knew Slade was right.

A low voice shouted out from the hallway, "Man, if you don't open that door right now, I'll blast it down!"

Robin ignored him, grabbing his pillow, and covering his head with it, shivering under the covers.

"I'm serious, man! _Open that door!_"

Robin shouted, "Go away! Stop bothering me!"

The whirring of mechanical devices coming to life shivered behind the door, and a high-pitched squeal as the door fell, smoking, into Robin's room.

Cyborg stood, shocked as he saw the crimson-stained sheets. "OH MY GOSH ROBIN WHAT HAPPENED!" He turned to Beastboy literally shaking him. "Get Star, quick!"

Robin voice, muffled by the pillow, croaked in misery. "Please don't get girl with blood on her hands, please!"

"I'm getting you help, and your girlfriend, whether you like it or not." Cyborg told him firmly as Starfire rushed into the room, Beastboy, in the shape of a cheetah, sprinting after her.

"Robin!" Starfire cried in anguish. "Oh, Robin! What have you _done to yourself!_"

Robin shied away from Starfire, screaming, "Get away from me! What kind of punishment do you want me to torment me with!" He pointed, shaking, to the empty left corner of the room. "She's come to make me pay!" he shrieked in terror. "Don't let her get me!" He dove, shivering, with tears rushing down his cheeks, under the covers, a miserable mess.

Starfire placed a reassuring hand on Robin's shoulder, sitting next to him on the bed. "Robin," she said gently. "There is no one there!"

"There is!" Robin shrieked. "She has the blood on her hands, the blood I spilled!" He backed away from the other Titans, eyes wild like a madman. "Forgive me, Raven! Please, don't hurt me!"

Cyborg glanced at the corner. "Yo, _chill out_. There's _no one there. _It's just your imagination! The stress on your brain, it's going to kill you!"

Robin insisted miserably, "She is there, as real as you and I are. And she's come back to get her revenge on me!" Pale as a ghost, he reached with a trembling hand for the sharp red and yellow birdarang.

Starfire snatched it away. "No, Robin!" she cried out. "I cannot bear to see you like this! What can I do to help?"

Robin shivered, grabbing insistently at the sharp knife, which Starfire held out of his reach. "Please," he whispered. "Just let me take away the pain!"

Starfire bowed her head, tears running down her cheeks, splashing on the bed. "Oh, Robin." she whispered back. "I don't want you to get hurt." She drew out a small syringe filled with a clearish liquid.

"No!" Robin screamed. "There is nothing you can do! Don't insert the Death Serum into me! I must go through the gauntlet she has prepared for her revenge, her murder that I caused! Please, no!"

Starfire looked back at him, her face streaked with tears. "It's for the best, Robin. I want nothing for you but the best Robin, even if I must force it on you." she murmured, and sank the needle without hesitation into his cut arm.

The tranquilizer took effect immediately as Robin, face terrified, whispered a final time, "No-" as his eyelids closed almost sluggishly over his eyes, his breathing evening.

"Oh, Robin," Starfire whispered, and collapsed onto the floor, sobbing. "What can I do to make you happy?"

_**{Sorry for all the Robin and Starfire. I promise I'll put some Robin and Raven soon.}**_


	5. Chapter 5

Robin awoke groggily to the sun shining brilliantly into his window. "Wh-what just happened?" he murmured sluggishly. "I feel... strange."

"Robin!" Starfire cried happily, leaping up from her chair where she had been sulking in misery. She ran toward him and hugged him in a stranglehold as Robin's face began to turn blue.

"Can't... breathe." he choked out.

Starfire flushed red, letting him go and backing away politely. "You are, okay?" she inquired.

"Yeah," Robin mumbled, pumping the air back into his lungs. "Besides almost dying of asphyxiation." He looked at his bandaged arm confusedly. "Why is there two scars? I mean, Kitten only cut me once." He picked up the birdarang by his bedside, one of the tips stained red, observing it closely.

Starfire rushed over and snatched the weapon out of his grip. "Robin!" she sobbed. "I cannot bear to see you in agony again! Please do not slice your own arm again, Robin! I promise I will find a solution!"

Robin was understandably confused. "Wh-what do you mean? I wouldn't cut myself. It's not like I'm emo or anything."

Starfire clutched the birdarang to her tightly. "The last time you were awake, you were in a delirium, crying out about seeing Raven and her punishment for you and inflicting wounds on yourself."

"I was?" Robin murmured. "I-I don't remember anything about me crying, much less cutting my arm open. Why would I do that?"

"You were grieved by Raven's death." Starfire explained. "You could not control yourself in your anguish."

"Raven..." Robin whispered, his head drooping. "I miss her so dreadfully much..."

"We all do." Starfire reassured him. "Do you wish to eat something?" she asked brightly. "You have been asleep for three days."

"Three days?" choked out Robin. "How many alerts did I miss?"

"Only six," Starfire reassured. "They were quite easy to take care of. They were merely unprofessional people trying to rob the bank."

Robin looked up at her, concerned, tracing a scar on her forehead. "You got hurt?"

Starfire winced as he touched it, and Robin withdrew his hand quickly for fear of hurting her. "Only a minor cut." she said. "I flew into a doorway by accident. Come, eat something."

"I'm not hungry, Star. I need to, um, reflect a bit. Alone."

Starfire cocked her head. "May I assist you in your quest, Robin? Perhaps with our combined efforts you may succeed."

"No, Star. It's kinda personal." Robin said, then smiled, "Here, go tell the others I'm up."

Starfire nodded, giving Robin a brilliant smile before walking out of the room. As soon as the door slid closed behind her, he turned serious.

_Slade, _he thought. _Do you know where Raven is?_

Slade's presence immediately appeared in his mind. _Yes, Robin. I do. I see you are at a last resort, or else wouldn't have called me?_

_Shut up with all that nonsense and just answer my questions. How can I save her? _Robin asked sharply. _And don't get any ideas about apprenticeship. I'm done with that._

Slade laughed, a sound that chilled Robin to the bones. _If I help you, you must give me something I want._

Robin hissed in fury. _Don't give me that! Where. Is. Raven._

Cold laughter echoed in his mind, a haunting, horrible noise. _Ah, Robin, little boy. You are _so _very impatient. Do we have a deal?_

Robin gritted his teeth. _Forget I said anything. I won't help you with anything._

A knock on the door startled Robin out of his thoughts.

"Yo, man!" Cyborg's voice called out. "Open up!" Robin swung his legs out of the bed and opened the door, sighing.

Cyborg stood there, grinning widely and slapped him on the back hard. "Good to know you're back on your feet!" Robin winced at the heavy blow, and managed to smile. "Good to see you too."

Beastboy turned away, arms crossed. "I still think he murdered Raven." he hissed maliciously, turning his back on Robin.

Robin looked with a hurt glance at Beastboy, but he feigned carefree. "Um, Cyborg, if you don't mind, could I be left alone for a bit? I need to figure out something."

Cyborg grinned again, stepping out of the threshold. "'Course. You sure you don't need help?"

"Yeah." Robin said a bit too impatiently, and closed the door.

Cyborg frowned at the door. "Teenage spiky-headed mood swings." he dismissed, walking away, humming cheerfully to himself.

Robin made sure they were gone before slipping into the hallway. He ran down the corridor soundlessly and opened a nondescript door. Metal steps went down for an eternity beyond the threshold before being swallowed up in darkness. He ran quickly down them two at a time, careful to close the door. Flipping on a switch, lights overhead flickered weakly above him.

_I haven't been down here in forever. _he thought, chills going up his spine at the strange noises slithering in the darkness. Eyes blinked out at him in the dark.

A sound of scuttling brought him to a stop, breathing coming quickly and sharply. "Who was that?" he called into the darkness. A grey spider crawled into the light before disappearing into the dark._ Oh, come on. _he scolded himself. _Heroes don't jump at spiders. Stop being such a wimp. _

He walked down to the lowest level quickly, almost racing, to a box. Careful to cover his nose and mouth, he opened a dusty old shoebox. The film of dust spiraled into the air, and Robin forced himself not to breathe. He reached in and pulled out a broken mask- Slade's. The half-orange, half-black mask glared at him evilly.

Suddenly the lights came on, and Robin whipped around, drawing a bo staff from his belt.

Cyborg stood there, glancing at Robin holding the mask. "Robin," he told him, walking toward him and closing the box, putting it away. "You gotta let go. Slade's gone. That's the end of him." He motioned for the mask, but Robin clutched it tightly.

"Then why do I feel like he's still there?" Robin whispered.

Cyborg wrenched the mask from his grasp and stuffed it into the box. "Come on, man. Let go. I know you're persistent on criminals, but he's gone. Anyhow, if he was still here, he hasn't disturbed Jump City at all."

He glanced at Robin's face, and added, "Besides, you're in no condition to catch criminals right now. You're still kinda feverish." He took his shoulder, and walked up the stairs. "Come on," he said. "Let's go get you something to eat."

Robin followed him unwillingly, looking back at the box where Slade's mask lay.

As they stepped into the light, Robin heard a tortured scream. "Starfire!" he shouted, racing down the hallway to the main room.

As the doors slid open, the place was a mess. The glass wall had shattered, shards of glass everywhere. Beastboy, in rhino form, morphed back.

"Dude," he shouted at Robin, "Where were you? Sulking about Raven when you killed her yourself?"

Robin's temper flared but he ignored him. The counter had been broken in two, the ground littered with broken objects.

Slade stood, in the middle of the room, with Starfire's neck clamped in his iron grip. Starfire was desperately pushing at him, eyes glowing green as she tried to shoot star-bolts from her eyes, but Slade squeezed tightly, causing Starfire to wheeze for breath, eyes wide and terrified.

"Let her _go!" _Robin roared, charging at Slade, but Slade sidestepped, making Robin skid to a halt. He turned, growling, mask narrowed to slits as he charged again, Slade swinging an upper punch at Robin, who fell choking, clutching his stomach, at Slade's feet.

"Oh, Robin." Slade hissed, menacingly. "Didn't I tell you I was real, that I would never let you go?"

Robin, gritting his teeth, swept out in a Tiger-tail kick, hitting Slade's knee hard as he dropped Starfire to the ground, staggering back. A distinct _crack_ was heard, but Slade simply moved his hand to the wrenched joint, the knee cracking back, healed instantly.

"W-what?" Robin spluttered in shock.

"Let's just say," Slade said, his eye narrowing in amusement at Robin's surprise, "I've learned a few tricks."

Robin narrowed his eyes. "Doesn't mean I still can't take you down." He charged again, swinging a high punch at Slade, who dodged.

"I came, Robin," he said. "not to fight, but to warn you. Your time is running out."

"Raven," Robin whispered, mask widening.

Slade laughed. "If you know what's good for your little bird, you'll hurry." With that, he jumped out of the shattered pane.

Robin ran out, looking down from the edge of the floor, but Slade was nowhere in sight.

"I have to go." he muttered, turning back to the team. "I have to go find Raven." he announced in a louder voice. "Starfire, you're in charge."

Cyborg's eyes widened. "But, man, I'm your second in command! Did you just put me there for nothing?"

"Don't make this harder than it has to be, Cyborg." Robin muttered, walking away to his room.

Starfire got up from the floor and hobbled over to Robin, laying a hand on his shoulder. "You are not coming back?" she whispered sadly.

Robin shook his head. "No, Star. Not until I find Raven." He lifted her hand off his shoulder and walked away.

He didn't look back.


	6. Chapter 6

_**{XAngelWithoutWingsX- Sorry, forgot to answer your question a bit back. Robin doesn't hate Starfire- in fact, he loves her very much. However, he is so grieved about Raven that's he's too confused and angry to control his temper, thus resulting in one of his "outbursts of rage".**_

_**CookieSpells4- Thank you for the compliments! :D I will work even harder on this now.**_

_**blankytherockdorkinsnob- I dunno how to respond to that...  
**_

**_All-_ _And yes, it is winter._}**

Robin shivered in the cold wind as snow drifted quietly on the alleyway. The dark sky remained unchanged and inanimate, the grey clouds as depressing as ever, reflecting his somber mood.

_It's like the Earth is grieving for Raven._ he thought, then immediately chastised himself. _Which is why you should get on with it and find her before it's too late and not dawdle like a half-witted idiot.  
_

He trudged through the grayish slush, looking into the distance where the old warehouse still stood, eerie, like some sleeping beast. _Raven, _he thought miserably. _Are you still there in the cold?_

Breaking into a run, he sprinted across the oozing mud which served as a path through the rundown area.

He pushed, straining, on the door as it creaked loudly, not much unlike fingernails down a chalkboard, making him wince. His breath came out in billows of white smoke which slowly drifted off and disappeared in the icy air.

Walking cautiously into the warehouse, a gale of winter wind blasted into the structure, pulling and slamming the enormous door shut with an ominous crash. It was completely dark in the warehouse now, making Robin shudder. If anything attacked now he would practically be a sitting duck.

Jumping through the hole in the ground, he landed lightly on his feet, wandering down the path he had taken before until he reached the dimly-lighted room. The overhead lights flickered on and off erratically, buzzing as sparks flew off them.

He bent on the spot where Raven had disappeared. A colossal, ugly scar stretched on the floor where Kitten has rifted it, a narrow crack running in the center of it. "Raven?" he called cautiously down into the crack.

Nothing responded back but the howling gale.

Robin pondered on his options. He could simply slap an explosive mine on the floor and take cover, but if Raven were _really _down in the ground, he didn't want to risk the fragments or the explosion severely injuring her. He took the collapsible bo staff from his belt, inserting the narrow metal into the crack. He strained at the other end, pressing down on the staff to create a sort of lever. The concrete was very old, and gave easily as a nicely sized chunk of rock flew into the air, crashing loudly some ways away.

Collapsing the staff, he scooped away the loose debris in his hole, breath coming in sharply with the anticipation of finding Raven and the fear of failure, that this had been a wild goose chase, and that Raven was gone forever.

A single violet strand of hair poked between a crack in the ground.

"Raven," Robin choked in relief. Suddenly, a growing horror consumed him. _She may be there,_ he thought anxiously, _but maybe I can only bring back t__he corpse._

Working quickly, he excavated the rocks around where her presumed body lay, dust rising from the aged floor, making Robin cough. A hand rose from the rock, then a booted foot, a fraction of an indigo cloak. Finally, Robin swept away the debris covering the rest of the body, leaning back on his knees to survey he had uncovered.

It was Raven, all right. Unmoving, her eyes were closed, a stricken look on her face. Horrible burns covered what skin was visible, her arms, her hands, her legs, her face. Her leotard seemed mostly untouched, but her cloak was singed badly around the edges, blackened with soot, torn holes visible on the cloth.

Robin waited anxiously for the telltale breath, but Raven was completely still. No breath made her side rise and fall.

"Please, no..." he whispered. "One breath, please. Just one breath."

A wracked cough shook Raven's thin frame violently, and her eyes opened, startlingly violet-black against her pale, grayish skin. "R-Robin?" she mumbled hoarsely.

Robin almost fainted with relief. "Raven," he whispered. "You alright?"

"Other than feeling like I fell into a pool of magma, and then getting crushed by a ton of rocks, suffering through third-degree burns and trauma, yeah. Fabulous."

Robin lifted Raven's arm over his shoulder, sliding his hands under her back, picking her up. "I'm going to get you back to the Tower. Do you have a fever or anything?"

Raven's eyes widened as Robin's hand drew near to the red gem on her forehead. "Robin, don't-!"

But it was too late. Robin's hand brushed over her forehead and touched the gem.

The world spiraled into darkness and collapsed around them in a blinding flash of white and cyan light. A glimmering seal in magenta and cyan shone in the distance, but the light blinded Robin, which made everything blurred and unreal. "What-"

He felt her hand slip from around his neck, and a final whisper. "Touch it."

Then Raven was gone, sucked into the endless void.


	7. Chapter 7

_**{Inugoma- Thank you. :D I'm workin' on it.**_

_**PalmerPie- Yeah, I guess. It will be, at least. I think. Thanks, sorry, it is a more depressed one... I'll try to add some hints of humor.**_

_**XAngelWithoutWingsX- Robin is seeing Raven. In the text Robin screamed about Raven; but he's truly not seeing anything, just kinda in trauma. It is a quite confusing chapter. XD Beastboy. About Chapter 6, Raven will explain later to Robin, but I still haven't gotten quite there yet.**_

_**Paloma Brighton- Thank you, I know they are kinda weird, this is my first one so I'm not that good at getting their personalities right yet. Also- they're in their "negative, dark sides" (kinda like Angry Raven or Robin during 'Apprentice 1 and 2'), which is rarely displayed throughout the show. Especially Beastboy's and Starfire's.  
**_

_**CookieSpells4- I promise there will be some Robin and Raven soon. Very soon, but not a lot.  
**_

_**The Reviewer- Thanks! Yes, Beastboy certainly will be disgruntled, to say the least. (plot-plot!)**_

_**Mickchick125- He just keeps on messing up, doesn't he? :P**_

_**Guest- Comin' right up, get more story posted ASAP.}**_

Robin awoke again sluggishly, propping himself up on his hands. "W-Where am I?" he muttered, blinking in the strong sunlight. The gleaming, ivory walls of architecture were unfamiliar to him, although he felt like he had seen them before.

Above him towered shining towers of marble, lavishly golden-plated birds with wings flung upward in a dazzling show of reflected sunlight shimmering in the sun. A grandiose palace- or was it a monastery? beckoned in the distance, and the entire landscape seemed to have an unreal sense of cool serenity to it.

_Not exactly Raven's style._ he thought. _So why did her gem bring us- or at least me- here?_

He looked up, shielding his eyes from the blazing sky, until he realized everyone was staring at him. Citizens draped in long, flowing white cloths stopped in their paths in puzzlement and perhaps even apprehension at this strange boy dressed in yet stranger clothes who pretty much popped up out of nowhere. A few children pointed and whispered, eyes wide at Robin.

"O-okay..." Robin muttered, backing away slowly, not knowing what to make of these people. "Hi?"

A couple of them glance suspiciously at him, seeming to be measuring up to see if he was threat.

"Look, I'm not going to try to hurt you." Robin explained awkwardly. "Can anyone, um, tell me where I am?"

Nothing answered him but shocked silence. It was obvious that they didn't understand what he was saying, much less that they were inclined to answer his question.

"Never mind." he mumbled, backing away a few steps, then turning and running, the native inhabitants still staring after him.

Turning sharply into a dark alleyway, Robin panted for breath, back pressed against the smooth blocks. "Real smooth." he hissed. "Instead of trying to reasonably explain things, you stutter stupidly, turn and run. A perfect first impression."

Heavy footsteps echoed in the distance, rapidly drawing closer as a shaft of light was reflected on the wall next to Robin from a metal spear. Robin, his mask narrowing, slid deeper into the shadows, drawing his bo staff, until none of him could be seen. As he had expected a band of men, almost completely concealed in white cloaks with glistening, gild trim greatly resembling Raven's indigo one.

The men finally drew in sight, pausing at the mouth of the alleyway where Robin was crouched, shrouded in the shadows. The lead man looked deep into the alley, narrowing his eyes as he scanned the darkness warily. Robin forced himself to keep completely still without breath, although his heart raced with anxiety.

The man whisked away, barking orders to the men which followed him, and waved them off in a language foreign to Robin, who remained entirely inanimate, afraid that the man was in fact telling them to search the alleyway.

_Walk away. _he willed the men silently. _Just turn around and walk away._

The men hoisted up their weapons and began to leave, but the reflection of one of the spears caught the light, which sliced straight into the shadows, revealing just for a fraction of a millisecond, the tip of Robin's staff. But it was enough.

Robin leaped up, swinging his staff as it connected with the temple with one of the men, but the others continued to flow over the unlucky recipient, spears poised to shiskabob him. Clenching his teeth, he turned tail and ran through the endless alleyways, like a huge labyrinth of maze corridors he had never encountered before. Right now, he had only one destination in his mind- wherever the men would get lost. Making split-second decisions, Robin turned corridors and sidetracked into dark stairwells which rose back into the light, desperate to get away from the men.

Three purple flashes streaked through the air as Robin ducked, but they weren't meant to hit him. Three amethyst knives buried themselves into the clefts of the alley walls at least three feet above him.

"That's my warning shot!" the lead man warned in perfect, accent-less English.

Robin answered by throwing a birdarang, which swept the spear accurately out of the man's grasp, falling with a clatter some ways away. "That's _my_ warning shot."

"We don't want to hurt you!" the man called reassuringly.

"Neither do I!" Robin called back, speeding up. He held a second birdarang ready in his grasp, prepared to throw it.

"Please, stop!" the man called, holding his hands up, but still running. "We do not believe in violence but pacifist compassion!"

"Right, we all believe that." Robin muttered. Raising his voice, he yelled, "Where are you holding her?"

"You fail to specify this 'her' you are looking for?"

"Raven, of course! You know who I mean!"

The man's eyes immediately narrowed. "Actually, I didn't. What is that of concern to you, Earth-one? Do you have some sort of special relationship with her?"

"And what's my so-called 'special relationship' to you?"

The man stopped. "Do you want to know something, boy?"

Robin skidded to a stop, turning around. "What?"

"You are perhaps one of the rudest, most ignorant boy I have ever met in my life. That's saying quite a bit."

Robin huffed once, and threw an explosive disk at the man, which combusted in a plume of grey smoke, concealing everything from the man's vision. When the smoke cleared, Robin had the man by his throat against the wall, glaring into the man's golden-colored eyes.

"You're probably one of the most gullible person I know, falling for the chit-chat and smoke distraction trick. And that's saying quite a bit."

Fear showed briefly in the man's eyes, before he regained composure. "Do you want to see Raven or not?"

"Are you going to take me to her or not?"

"I will, but first I must apologize for my actions. We cannot let any outsiders know the way to the Lady Raven's abode."

"Do whatever you have to, blindfold me or something. Just get me to Raven."

"Dreadfully sorry, my lad." the man apologized, grinning, as he lifted his arm in a swift rabbit punch as Robin collapsed.

As the man's image blacked out and the world faded to darkness around him, the last thing Robin thought was:

**_Lady _**_Raven? I couldn't possibly have heard the man wrong... could I?  
_


	8. Chapter 8

_**{Sorry for slow update. Was kinda stuck for most the day. Try to update faster from here on out. As promised, a little bit of Robin and Raven in this chapter, not much, but there.**_

_**blankytherockdorkinsnob- A swift chop to the back of the neck. I dunno... it just is. Maybe because I was having a wracking cough attack?**_

_**Inugoma- How'd you- I mean maybe it is Azarath, maybe not. Ahem, close one there.  
**_

_**XAngelWithoutWingsX- Thanks. :D**_

_**AngelinDarkness- On it!**_

_**CookieSpells4-Why thank you, I'm all fuzzy and warm now. :D}**_

"Hey, wake up, Earth-one." a voice, still distant and fuzzy, called at Robin. Slowly, forms of vague color blurred into Robin's vision, then distinct, sharp silhouettes and figures.

"W-Wha-Where am I?" he stammered sluggishly, looking up in the direction where the voice had come from.

The man from before, dressed in a clean, new silver robe, stared down at Robin.

"I liked you better when you were knocked out, you know."

"I liked you better when I was knocked out, you know." Robin retorted, picking himself up off the ground. "Bringing me to Raven doesn't involve rabbit punching me, knocking me out rather painfully, dragging me to who knows where in who knows where, then dumping me unceremoniously on the floor."

"Before I defeated your attempts of offense, you told me to do whatever I needed as long as I brought you to Raven?"

"That was because I _allowed_ you to 'defeat my attempts of offense'. And if I didn't, you would be _mincemeat_ by my birdarangs by now."

"Bird-a-_whats?_"

"_Never. Mind._" Robin hissed through clenched teeth. "I really do like you better with me knocked out. Or you. I'm okay with either, but I prefer punching you out."

"You don't show a lot of gratitude, do you, boy?"

"I show gratitude to those who deserve it." Robin snapped. "How long until I can see Raven?"

The man watched Robin sagely. "On top of your rudeness, your ignorance, your prideful behavior, your ungrateful attitude, _and_ your adamance, you are _also_ unbelievably impatient. You have much to learn, young boy."

Robin gritted his teeth, trying to keep his peace. "Look, I'm sorry I'm not exactly gracious-" he stopped at a quizzical look on the man's face. "_okay, really crabby and rude- _happy now?- but I've come a long way, and not exactly in self-intended way, suffered through a couple major traumatic injuries, went crazy for a day and started cutting myself for reasons I still don't know, and other troubles of the such, so if you _dreadfully, most humbly, please, could you take me to see Raven?_"

"Add one more please on there and give me a sweet, bright, youthful smile."

Robin gave the man what looked more like a pained, bitter, seriously annoyed snarl than a smile. _"Please?"_

"Close enough to what I requested of you. Come with me." the man acknowledged, sweeping his robes in a graceful arc as he began to ascend a spiral flight of stairs, moving quickly so that Robin had to jog to keep up. Bright sunshine poured through glittering crystal-paned windows, throwing a delicate filigree of scintillation against the cool shadows. The stair case of made of glassy crystal, so that one may peer down and see the endless, winding staircase beneath them. Silver damask-style lamps glowed with a strange, arcane black fire which felt both warm and cold at the same time, giving off an unusually pleasant aroma. Arcs of gold framed the staircase overhead, gleaming with a metallic beauty, purity, and perfection, but Robin had no time to enjoy it, now running to keep up with the man.

The man suddenly stopped at the top of the ascending staircase, thrusting out a hand to signal that Robin do the same. Unfortunately, he gave it a bit too late and Robin plowed straight into his back.

"Ow..." Robin muttered pointedly, rubbing his head. "Could have told me that a little sooner..."

"Silence!" the man hissed. "You are not to speak unless spoken to, or touch The Lady Raven unless she gives you permission. Even then, speak as quietly and make contact as little as you can. You are not to interrupt her and you must show full, due respect to the The Lady."

"So..." Robin ventured nervously. "Now can I see Raven?"

"You will refer to her as The Royal Lady, the Lady, Queen of Crows and/or Ravens, or the The Princess. You are _never_ to call her witch, demon, or any other detestable titles which do not suit her kindred personality _at all_, or accuse her of witchcraft, dark or illegal magic, and malevolent sorcery. When you first enter the room, kneel with your forehead to the ground facing the east window, the one with the glimmering sapphire pane, when you enter her chambers. You may not rise until she commands you to do so. You may not speak until she gives you pardon to. Be in complete submission, reverence, and respect as not to flare The Lady's anger, lest her wrath come down in torrents on you and you be banished into Limbo from the Divine City of Purity forever. Return after banishment and or exile is punishable through lynching to death, which includes whipping, stoning, and burning at the stake, in extreme cases, and yes we are dead serious and _not joking._ If more forms of punishment and execution are needed, they will be added. The Lady is within her royal right to press charges against you additional to those pressed by the High Monk Parliament of the Divine Monastery and the People of the City. You will accept and follow all these requirements to see the Royal Lady and to return unharmed. Failure to follow, comply, and undertake _all _requirements will result in definite death, which can only be pardoned by the Lady herself or the pardons of 20,000+ of the people, which has never happened before, or the full thirteen of the High Monk Parliament, which has also never happened before. Understood and agreed, young one?"

Robin ran through the rather lengthy list of rules again. "Yeah, I got it. Can I now see Ra- I mean, _The Lady, _now?"

"Enter, boy. But remember the rules." the man warned, and pushed aside an indigo-dyed silk curtain with filigree-style design-work patterned over it in silver embroidery.

Robin sighed, kneeling on the ground, preparing to do as the man had ordered him to do.

"Who is it?" a weak, frail voice whispered hoarsely from the bed, her head completely hidden by a silver comforter, her back turned to Robin.

"Robin from Earth, um, my Lady..?" Robin ventured, unsure of what to say. _I'm going to freak if it turns out it's someone else._

The figure suddenly leaped up from the bed, running toward Robin and hugging him tightly, head pressed into his shoulder. "Robin!" Raven choked out with joy. "It's you, you came!"

"Of course I would, Lady Raven." Robin whispered back, looking down on her, still afraid to touch her.

"You have permission to touch me, and also permission and pardon to call me simply by 'Raven'." Raven whispered, still holding Robin.

Robin tactfully freed himself. "So..." he stammered, trying to change the subject, blushing red as he stepped away. "This is Azarath?"

Raven nodded, looking at her feet, face hot with embarrassment, before her skin paled back to grey-white. "Yeah." she said, sitting down on her bed again, going back to her usual deadpan. "Attendants, you are dismissed." she called.

Seven white-hooded women quickly shuffled out of the room, casting suspicious glances back at Robin.

Robin didn't know what to say next, and the two of them watched each other awkwardly.

"So..." Raven began, averting her eyes, but refused to go any further, acting as if by contributing a single sentence she had done her part.

"So?" Robin pushed her gently. "What were you going to say?" _This conversation is going nowhere._

Raven muttered, "Never mind. Happy side's overstepping her place."

"No, seriously, what were you going to say?"

Raven blushed furiously, so she raised her hood. "I-I've never seen your eyes before."

"Not many people have. It's a personal thing- like a secret- for me."

Raven opened both violet eyes and looked at Robin with strange, new, passionate fire burning in her eyes. "You've never shared that 'secret' with anyone?"

Robin shook his head, backing away. "Raven, you alright?"

"Very." she whispered, moving closer to him. "Robin- we have something special between us, since the day we met." Her eyes didn't move off his face for a millisecond. "I felt like you were the only one who truly understood me." She reached for Robin's hand, and he took her's in his.

The two of them were very close now, and Robin could feel her breath, cold, like a nighttime breeze. Carefully, Robin moved her hands around her, Raven resting her head on his shoulder. For a long time- in reality, only five seconds, but in their minds like fifty eternities- their eyes met, a pair amethyst, like some rare crystal from a distant shore, a pair hidden behind a black and white mask. Drawing closer, the pairs blinked closed as some inexorable pull drew them together, foreheads touching as they leaned closer, the world completely still around them.

The world completely still around them, and just the two of them together. Nothing else mattered more but-

"No!" Raven screamed as she suddenly fell back, eyes glowing vermilion. Robin caught her, mask widened in anxiety for Raven.

"Raven- what's happening?" he asked her anxiously. "Raven!" _Please, not Raven. She's been through enough. Anyone, just not Raven._

A scarlet rune burned in the center of Raven's forehead over the chakra gem, which began to fade grey. Ancient curses began to glow in the ancient tongue, covering her arms, her legs, her body. Telling the dark omen, her story, her life, her destiny- once avoided, but written deep in the course of history, present, and future.

"It's him." she whispered, the light in her eyes fading away to grey as she closed her eyes.

Robin looked up as a colossal, demonic talon shattered the wall into fragments of a dream forgotten. Shards of glass, crystal, gold, silver, and sapphire flew everywhere like so many assassins, so many daggers meant to stab and murder. Roars of chaos shook the trembling earth.

"My father."


	9. Chapter 9

**_{Inugoma- Yes, you were. How did you guess? O.o  
_**

**_MickChick125- Meheheh... FEEL MY WRATH! Just kidding.  
_**

**_RaeofShimmeringSunshine- Thanks, yeah it is a bit too easy, but it's supposed to be, because- you know what? All will be revealed... shortly._**

**_Jackie- Thanks, I'm on it!_**

**_And yes, back to dark and overcast chapters after two light ones._**

**_Sorry about lack of updatingness. I'll try to update multiple today, but no promises because I have stuff tonight.}  
_**

Robin stared at Trigon, mask wide. "B-But you're!"

_"Dead?" _Trigon boomed, and the earth shook with his ground shaking laughter, his sides heaving with amusement. _"Boy, you can never kill evil. It lurks within the world, the ones around you, you yourself. You are more evil than you cold possibly imagine, Robin. Just let the evil flow, flow into your veins, become you- and you may join me, join me to bring the mortal world to its knees!"  
_

Robin felt the anger begin to consume him, swallowing up his humanity. Four red eyes began glow through his mask, the Mark of Scath fading into a strong, angry light on his forehead, him clutching at his head, covering his face.

"_Let go, Robin!" _Trigon roared in a fear-instilling voice, making Robin shiver. "_Let it go!"_

"_No!_" he yelled. "_I am nothing like you!"_

Slade stepped forward, watching the tortured Robin with a deliberate eye. "Robin, we _are so much alike, my apprentice._" Something about him was different, and when Robin peered through his fingers at his half orange, half black mask. Four, malevolent eyes glowed back at him, the identical serpentine rune glowing in the high center of his mask. "Look at me, Robin. _Look!_" A fireball roiled in his hand, and roared, stirring into a destructive inferno. "_Look at the power I hold! Let go Robin, and wield the same power of _evil!"

Robin's every instinct screamed at him, urging him to join Trigon. _The world is gone, _Robin's inner soul told him. _Join Trigon, save yourself. Look- you've gone through so much to save her, and look how she repays you! Sleepless nights, troubled days, why not just end her malevolent existence, and let yourself enjoy sweet, one shot only life?_

Trigon smiled, a gruesome, unfriendly smile. "_Join me, Robin, and watch the world fall to its knees, and I will promise you great riches and safety in the coming years- the years of Trigon! I can grant you immortality, Robin, and these powers that I wield, you can become strong. _He extended a giant, black talon claw, his huge, blood red palm open in acceptance.

Robin clenched his teeth, and responded, whirling around, by sinking his yellow and red birdarang sword into the demon's talon and yanking it out with little grace, mask narrowed. _"I'll never be like you."_

Trigon roared, drawing his hand back swiftly, more out of annoyance than pain. "_Foolish mortal!_" he shrieked. "_I will __burn you with the rest of your little friend, and grind the ashes to the Gates of the Abyss and beyond! All you care about is your useless, weak, frail friend!"_

Robin's mask widened and narrowed. "_Friend? _Not _friends?" _He snarled. "What have you done to them?"

Trigon leaned back, his eyes shining with a passionate malignancy. "_Ah, Robin, quick to catch on, no? Your 'friends'- let's just say that they are no longer quite your allies anymore." _He roared to the sky, _"Minions Cyborg, Beastboy, Argent, Speedy, Bumblebee, Bushido, Jinx, Kid Flash, Hotspot, Wildebeest, Mas y Menos, Pantha, Herald, Jericho, Aqualad, Kilowatt, Red Star, Kole, Gnark, Thunder, Lightning, Teether, Bobby, Melvin, Timmy, and Tramm, arise!"_

Arcs of crimson flame shot into the air as the former Titans emerged, snarling, all of them possessing Trigon's four eyes and malignant rune, smiling evilly.

"No- Starfire?" Robin whispered, glancing at the Tamaranean girl who smirked at him, Mark of Scath glowing unashamedly bright, hurling a scarlet star-bolt at him.

Robin swiftly dodged as the alien energy slashed a marbled column, sending the ceiling of Raven's room crashing down as Robin grabbed Raven, yanking her out of the way of the collapsing stone rubble.

"Starfire, what are you doing?"

"Robin, you are not to call me Starfire any longer. I have cut the relationships I have with you. Now I am Koriand'r, for I share no bond with your earthly ways any longer!" Shrieking with an unearthly rage, she blasted Robin with her vermilion eyes, powerful bolts of energy searing him as he held up his cape to protect himself.

"Star! Wake up! Drop the act!"

"I have just woken up, Robin. I have woken up to the age of the great Trigon!" Screaming, she charged at Robin, who lifted his staff quickly, blocking off her attack as Koriand'r, both hands grabbing the staff, tried to shove Robin back as he himself pushed back, the staff almost at his throat, clearly losing ground.

"Star," Robin hissed through clenched teeth. "I don't want to do this."

"But I _do!_" Koriand'r shouted, throwing Robin back with her Tamaranean strength, four red eyes glowing with a dangerous, tainted power.

Koriand'r flew straight into the dust and clouds, grabbing Robin by the throat, who, teeth clenched by the effort and strain, grabbed her shoulders, throwing her back against the wall.

Koriand'r lay, unmoving, in the sharp, hard gleaming rubble of marble, Robin running toward her, kneeling down, mask wide with shock.

"Starfire! Starfire? Are you alright?"

Koriand'r turned, eyes blazing scarlet. "Very much so, thank you." She blasted Robin with her eyes, who flew across the room, slamming into the wall, head thrown back, eyes closed as he fell, unmoving, into the rubble around the wall.

Raven rose, eyes glowing white with pure energy. "Starfire, you leave me no choice." She grew in size, her mouth twisting into a cruel smile as black tentacles sprouted from under her cloak, hungry for revenge and destruction. "_Azarath Metrion ZI__NTHOS!"_ A torrent of black energy, shaped like a mighty raven, screamed as it spread its colossal black wings wide, tucking into a sharp dive for Koriand'r, who screamed, trying to shield herself.

"_No!" _Koriand'r shrieked. _"The darkness, make it stop! MAKE IT STOP!" _Her desperate pleas were cut off abruptly as the alien girl drowned in its dark depths.

"Starfire-" Robin whispered, lifting a hand, getting up as he tackled Raven. "Stop, Raven! You're hurting her!"

Raven's eyes grew wide as the black bird released the girl, screaming once more as it rose, dispersing, into the darkening sky over Azarath. Starfire was left, still, as the mist faded from around her, completely still, two-eyed, but no breath made her chest rise and fall.

"Star-?" Robin started, looking at Starfire, then Raven, in shock, eyes stricken with grief. "No, she can't be-"

"I-I'm sorry Robin, that wasn't me, it was-" she pointed with a trembling finger to Trigon. "_him._" Raising her voice, she screamed, "What do you want with me? All my life you've been haunting me, never sating your lust for revenge? What is it that you've wanted from me my entire existence?"

Trigon watched them, smiling evilly. "Daughter, my little girl, you think too much. It was not about you." As both the otherworldly demon and Slade turned to face Robin, the latter's mask widened in apprehension.

"It always been about _you, _Robin. _From the very start._"


	10. Chapter 10

_**{blankytherockdorkinsnob- Sorry... I wanted to end it on a cliffhanger of sorts. And I forgot to change the 'she', so clarification to everyone- the she that goes "It wasn't me" or something like that is Raven. Yeah.  
**_

_**CookieSpells4- I'll try to get in more updates faster than before starting now because ideas are coming fast, okay? :)**_

_**Inugoma- Well, I guess, yeah. The architecture description was a bit of a giveaway too. Yay, a fellow Teen Titans watcher that watches a bit too much... people don't judge us, it's a good show! XD jk. And here it is, the new update.  
**_

_**BlueDecemberxx- Thank you! I will continue, this will go on for quite a bit, now worries.}**_

Robin shook his head, mask wide... "I-I don't understand. Raven's the portal, the Gem! I'm just her mortal friend! How can I mean anything to you?"

Trigon bent down and stared into Robin's unseen eyes with an intense flame. "_Mortal, she is not the Gem. You are._"

"W-What do you mean?" Robin stammered, backing away, an apprehensive chill going up his spine.

Trigon's red eyes were so intensely frightening, so intensely _evil. __"The Portal and the Gem are two completely different people, Robin. The Portal, Raven, merely is the opening stage, to bring me into this world. The Gem is my ally, the true conqueror of the Earth. You are everything I needed to help me bring down this world to its knees. Raven was just the pawn of the chess game. You are far, far above that. You are my human side, Robin. You are me. I am you, and I am the evils of the world, so you too hold the origin of darkness. All you have to do is release it, and the power of the dark with flow over you, become you, and you will be far stronger, stronger than you could ever imagine."  
_

Raven looked like she was about to throw up. "If Robin's my brother, then-" her face impossibly paled. "Oh my gosh." she muttered.

Trigon would have rolled his eyes if he wasn't an otherworldly demonic beast-thing. "Impossible, immature girl. Robin is _not _your brother, he is a normal boy infused with my, ahem, _tainted_ aura."

Robin shook his head. "I still don't get it. How can I be anything to you if I'm just a normal guy with no powers _at all_?"

Trigon's fiery eyes glowed even brighter. "_Boy, your parents were not killed in the trapeze accident merely for money. The gangsters sabotaged the wires not for the money, but because I convinced them to. I had been searching for a... representative. I needed someone unknowing to watch on Earth, watch the girl that would become the gateway for my reign. Congratulations, Robin. You proved to be most exemplary, and easy to draw into my reach._"

Robin's mask narrowed. "I still don't get why I'm talking to you." He whirled around, throwing five disks at Trigon, exploding in a melee of shards, which embedded themselves into Trigon's skin as he roared in pain and fury.

"_Insolent fool! You have no idea what good my generous offer would bring!"_

"You can take your little 'generous offer' and get the heck out of here!" Robin snapped. "All you've ever brought to anyone is suffering and pain!"

_"You will become my follower, my Gem! EVEN IF IT HURTS!" _Trigon roared, claws raised high above his head as an electric, scarlet ball of malevolent energy crackled into existence. The demon hurled it down at Robin, who raised his arm instinctively as a shining, silver semi-sphere shield shielded both him and Raven.

"What-" Robin began, looking at his hands.

"_I regret infusing you with my aura, giving you your powers._" Trigon snarled. "_You are useless to me now if you do not ally with me. __But the magic has worked itself too far into your soul, and I cannot remove it, so prepare to DIE, FOOLISH MORTAL!_" He formed another concentration of energy, this one an enormous, crackling mass of destruction covering the entire Azarath sky.

"No!" Raven screamed, as a claw of black energy engulfed the nearby Herald, who, eyes wide in shock, fell into the mass. The possessed Titan struggled against Raven's will, but in the end, gave in, his hands trembling to his trumpet as a single note, a clear B flat, sounded through the air. As Trigon roared, hurling the magic death wish down at Robin, she tackled him into the opening rift as they were thrown into the unknown, the rift closing behind them.

_**Time lapse-**_

Robin groaned as his eyes fluttered open, Raven's image blurred, gradually clearing. "W-Where am I?"

Raven looked around, "It seems like we're in an underwater cavern."

Robin lifted his hand to touch his head, but it brushed bare skin near the eye instead. "My mask?" he asked a little too sharply.

Raven looked slightly guilty. "I had to take it off, before I pulled you out, a spark hit it, so there's a pretty bad burn under the mask."

Robin sighed. "Alright." The skin did feel cracked and burnt under his touch, and he winced as his hand contacted the open wound.

Robin reached carefully nearby, and felt his hand touch a cool material- his mask. He lifted it up, positioning it on his face before turning away, feeling like some personal part of his life had been exposed to Raven.

"Your eyes," Raven whispered wistfully. "They're blue. Sky blue, like a fair day in Azarath, my home, with no Trigon to bother us." She sighed sadly. "Or a day in the Titans Tower, with the clear sky overhead and-" her expression soured, "-yelling at Beastboy's annoying jokes." She immediately froze, stiffening. "Did I just say that out loud?"

Robin had the consideration not to smirk. "Umm... yeah?"

Raven glared at Robin, eyes burning violet. "You didn't hear _anything, _understand?"

Robin nodded quickly, backing away slightly from Raven. "Understood."

Raven relaxed a trifle, the fire in his eyes diminishing, getting up and walking away, before freezing in shock.

"Raven?" Robin whispered. Raising his voice. "Raven? RAVEN!"

Raven had not moved an inch where she stood, frozen like a still stone statue.

Robin got up and walked toward Raven, confused. "Look, Raven what-"

He froze in shock and dread.

A still form was sprawled, on his side, a crimson stain on the stark grey rock. He wasn't moving or breathing.

"Aqualad?" Raven whispered.


	11. Chapter 11

_**{Rosalind de Coudray- Will do! :D Glad to see you liked it!}  
**_

Aqualad didn't respond to Raven's whispered inquiry, and lied there as still as before. A long gash ran down one side of his body, still bleeding purplish crimson, the stones around him stained with the same hue.

"Is he-?" Raven began, hands visibly shaking, the dove grey-cloaked side beginning to emerge more prominently in Raven's composure.

"I-I don't know." Robin responded, kneeling down and peering at Aqualad's still, white face. The Atlantean boy's eyes were closed, and if he heard anything they were saying, he wasn't showing or responding to it. "Either way, he's lost a lot of blood... and he might not make it." His face was thoughtful. "Aqualad was called back at Trigon, but he wasn't in their ranks when we were there."

Raven nodded, crossing her legs and lifting her face to the white, gleaming ceiling of the cavern, levitating a few feet off the ground. "I'll try to make psychic contact with him, to see if he's still there, somewhere." Closing her violet eyes, she began to chant her usual incantation. "_Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos... Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos..." _A black bird emerged from Raven's partly opened mouth, cawing as it, spreading its translucent, dark wings wide, dove into Aqualad's still body. A tense silence followed as Robin waited nervously for the results.

Suddenly, Raven's eyes flew open. "Run!" she screamed to Robin as she unfolded her legs, throwing up a black energy shield. "_Run!_"

Robin's mask grew wide, leaping to his feet and ducking as the water began to churn in the expanse of ocean at the entrance of the cave, roaring into a white froth as Aqualad rose to his feet, his four eyes glowing red.

"Not Aqualad," Raven whispered sadly, hesitating, looking back at the possessed boy, but Robin grabbed her wrist, dragging her away.

Robin hissed, "He can breathe underwater, we can't. We _have to go!"_

"And how do you expect us to deal with the problem that we _don't have gills either?_"

Robin's hesitated, searching for a ready comeback reassurance, but nothing came to him. He managed with a lame, "We'll have to work with that later." He looked around desperately for some other alternative than jumping into the cold ocean and suffocating. He looked back at Aqualad, who, a cruel smirk on his face, raised his hand as the tide clashed behind them, rising in a small tidal wave, crashing down at Raven and Robin, who thrust his hand up again, a silver shield diverting the water harmlessly over them, which barreled into Aqualad instead. The long-haired boy slammed against the rock wall, his head hitting an uneven ridge in the stone hard. He slumped to the ground, unconscious.

Robin winced for Aqualad, starting toward the boy, but Aqualad whipped around, eyes glowing bright red as the water receded from around him, growing into a vast wave, knocking Robin and Raven into the icy deep of the ocean.

**LAPSE, OF SORTS-**

Robin remembered the swift fall as the breath was knocked out his lungs, the damp cold that pervaded him immediately, and the sense of growing dread as he sunk deeper into the water, his eyesight fading. A cloud of krill drifted around him, their scarlet cloud giving Robin a sense of foreboding dread.

_I can't give up, not with Raven! _he thought fiercely, striking out toward the surface, but he had already felt the darkness at the edges of his vision from the lack of oxygen as he swam toward Raven. The cloud of krill followed him curiously, humming around him.

Raven wasn't faring much better, completely limp in the water, her short violet hair drifting around her face, skin impossibly paler than before. Her eyes were closed, and as Robin caught her, her body was a complete deadweight. It was obvious she was unconscious, as she wasn't the most physically fit of all the Titans.

Wrapping an arm around her, Robin attempted to swim upwards, but it grew increasingly difficult to haul both of them toward the surface with his lack of oxygen and fatigue. _I'll never make it to the surface in time before I black out along with Raven. _he thought hopelessly, his strokes diminishing in power and strength as he slowly came to a stop, looking up at the much longed-for sunlight sparkling through the water, a hopeless wish.

He could feel the darkness beginning to claim him as his body began to sluggishly refuse his brain's commands to swim, _swim for Raven's sake, _and his strength faded quickly as he sank back through the depths, eyes drifting closed as the silent, unreal watery world floated around him with a dreamy leisure, despite Death staring at him in the face.

At the edge of his greying vision, he spotted a whale swimming toward them, mouth open. _Probably thinks I'm a thousand krill in the cloud or something. __At least he can live to see tomorrow. At least he's at home here. _Robin's brain suddenly jolted into motion again. _A __whale! Come on, please don't leave. Come over here._

The whale drifted toward him in a sleepy way, moaning in a low, melodious voice into the water as distant calls sang back at it. It's enormous form parted the water with little resistance, the sunlight dancing on its greyish blue, rough, barnacled skin. It opened it mouth and lurched forward as the darkness immediately closed over Robin as he felt a scratchy, feathery sensation as he drifted into the mouth of the whale along with the rest of the krill. Inside, it was completely dark, damp, and _gross, _to say the least, but Robin knew this was the best chance of his and Raven's survival as the water was drained out of the great mouth, leaving Robin air- oxygen, which he sucked in sparingly, knowing he had to save some.

He waited patiently for the whale to swallow all the krill down its narrow, bottleneck throat and drew his bo staff from his staff, the metal rod lengthening to fit from the roof of the whale's mouth to the tongue. Planting it firmly into the soft, pink tongue, Robin wrapped two grappling birdarangs to the rod, and took the interlocked metal, pulling back the staff as the ends shoved hard on the whale's sensitive mouth, causing probably extreme pain to the marine mammal.

_I'm sorry, whale. _Robin thought regretfully. _But I need Raven to save your ocean in the long run from Trigon, or have him turn your water into magma and fry you. I couldn't possibly do this myself. Just make this easy for you and me do we both can survive.  
_

The whale moaned again in misery, turning upwards as Robin eased the head up toward the surface with his staff, Raven falling back toward the throat opening of the whale, but Robin knew, as disgusting as it probably was, Raven couldn't fit through the narrow, one foot wide throat of the great beast. The world turned upwards for Robin, and he braced himself in the gooey muck of the whale's mouth, his shoe against the squishy, pink flesh. Suddenly a great splash was heard, and he knew the whale had breached the surface. He knew he had to work fast now, before he had to go through all of that again.

Throwing a roped birdarang at Raven, it wrapped around her limp form and pulled sharply as Raven was dragged over to him. He reached and wrapped an arm around her, her head leaning against his shoulder. Lengthening the staff even more, he forced, with a low moan of protest from the victim, the mouth of beast. Sunlight filtered in, bright and refreshing, holding a secret promise. He suddenly leaped forward, collapsing the staff, through the mouth of the whale as it closed rapidly, slamming shut just as Robin crashed into the now closed maw.

_No! _Robin screamed silently. _I can't be shut into the ocean any longer! _He braced himself against the whale's jaws, straining as a tiny crack appeared, Robin jamming his staff into it quickly as the whale's lip closed around it. He took a deep breath and steeled himself for the pain of the whale than would indefinitely come, roaring, pitiful, enough to shatter a heart of rock. _Sorry again, whale, but we all want to survive, no matter what it takes. _He slammed hard down on the other end of the staff, jerking up open the whale's jaw as the membrane ripped, salty blood pouring from inside the whale's mouth has it wailed in a loud, sonorous voice. Robin leaped through the jaw, grabbing his staff as he went, landing in the cool water, sunlight beaten down on his soaked hair clinging to hisscalp, Raven securely clutched against him.

_Safe._

A crimson rift opened in the sky as a wave of fire demons descended from the clouds, screaming a lust for bloodshed until there was nothing left.

_Safe, but not for long._he thought as he struck out toward the distant shore, rejuvenated by the cool sea breeze, Raven beside him.

_But nothing's hopeless._


	12. Chapter 12

_**{Rosalind de Coudray- That I will, as fast as I can!**_

_**blankytherockdorkinsnob- Like Robin said, we have the urge to survive, thus resulting in less than pretty results... 'tis the human nature, and I'm trying to bring out their hidden personalities into my story more than in the show more drastically.**_

_**CookieSpells4- Haha, alright. :D**_

_**minichurros123- Yeah, my writing's confusing...}**_

Robin felt like collapsing and dying right there on the spot. No flowers, on request. The energy keeping him going had been entirely depleted, leaving him weak and exhausted with fatigue, a state of complete lassitude blurring his mind like he felt like he had never experienced before. Cold saltwater permeated his clothes, making them soaking and heavy, every step forward he took transformed into a shiver-wracked instrument of torture. He sank to his knees, falling over onto the gritty sand and doubled over on his side, losing his lunch, breathing heavily.

_If you want to fry me alive, Four-eye's demon goons, _he thought tiredly as he tried to catch his breath, _this would be a great time. Help yourselves._

He was sure he looked really awkward and out of place, a Titan, especially the famous leader, sprawled out on a sandy beach, covered in whale slob. _Well, there's a first time for everything, although this is _really _embarrassing._ He glanced in his peripheral vision, noting the quizzical eyebrows and staring eyes. _I'd almost rather be unconscious._

Raven coughed up saltwater as she stood up, looking up and down herself in distaste, arms slightly out. "Okay, what did I get thrown in this time?"

Robin opened his mouth to respond and tell her the ugly truth, but Raven stopped him quickly. "I... actually don't want to know." she muttered, shaking out some of the clear, gooey saliva off her indigo cloak. She eyed Robin critically. "You look a mess."

"If you were thrown unceremoniously into a freezing ocean and eaten along with a krill lunch by a whale involving mass drooling, then had to force yourself out using rather unpleasant methods involving a metal staff and sharp objects, then swam a couple miles while lugging around your unconscious fellow Titan, I suppose you would." retorted Robin crabbily for no reason whatsoever, annoyance instigating a fresh wave of unreasonable annoyance.

Raven looked up at the sky, floating in the air a few feet off the ground. "Hey, Boy Wonder, we have difficulties, so if you done making a fool of yourself, you might want to look up."

Robin did, hauling himself to his feet as he glanced upwards. "Trouble. _Again._" His drew his staff as it lengthened in his grip, shaking off the whale saliva off it. Raven's hands began to glow black with dark energy as they ran into the city where an inferno blazed, its flames licking the sky with its ravenous fire.

**Another time lapse of sorts.**

Robin skidded to a stop as they arrived on the scene as fire demons ravaged the city in a wild, enraged tumult, setting everything in blazes. The scene was complete chaos as the inhabitants of the city cried out for the unearthly wraiths to pass them by and spare them, but the demons just laughed at them and threw them out of the way into the roaring blazes where they lay, unmoving, and continued their single united purpose- to eradicate all mortals from the face of the earth.

"Well..." Raven muttered indifferently. "There goes pizza night."

Robin ignored her comment, gauging the seriousness of the rampage.

"You can stop your calculations, Robin." Raven told him, reading his mind as his mask became wide with surprise. "It's serious, all right."

Robin lengthened the bo staff and held five explosive disks, ready to throw, in his hand. "We have to stop them anyway."

Raven nodded silently, looking at Robin pointedly.

"Titans, _go!_" Robin commanded, catching Raven's expectant glance. _But there's only two Titans left on the team. _he thought, depressed. _So what's the point of the command signal?_

Raven flew directly into the battle, hissing in effort as a truck glowed in black and white contour lines as it crashed into the fire demons, crushing them. However, the gas tank was punctured by a piece of stray debris, piercing the fuel tank as gasoline went flying everywhere over the flames.

"So maybe that wasn't such a great idea..." Raven muttered, breaking a fire hydrant as water gushed into the air, putting out the strengthened blazes as a couple of fire demons as an added bonus. She watched as the flaming wraiths, howling, were quenched by the cool water, collapsing into damp puddles of ash which splashed all over her cloak.

"Fabulous. I must be the luckiest girl in the world." she muttered, looking down at her dirtied, rumpled blue cloak. "I get cosmetics of whale spit and demon bits. I must look _so_ spectacular."

Robin was too busy with three demons to respond. Growling, he instinctively raised his hand through some intrinsic nature, a silver sphere surrounding the demons which shrank rapidly, crushing the screaming minions inside.

"What-how do I keep on using _Trigon's_" gaze venomous, he spat out the name contemptuously, "powers?"

"My powers and Trigon's, as are probably yours," Raven muttered, "_Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"- _a demon disintegrated, "-are controlled by emotion. If you don't keep them under control, they can destroy your humanity- _corrupt you- _and no one can save you then. I advise you _not to play around with them. They are not some child's game._"

Robin shuddered, remembering the unpleasant memory of the fight with Doctor Light many months ago, when Raven had lost control and become Angry Raven when Trigon had gained a temporary hold on her through her rage. She had only been in her corrupted form for a few seconds, but it was enough to give him nightmares for the rest of his life. He decided he would stick to hand to hand combat and his gadgets.

"How does it happen? I mean, explain how it's caused?" he shouted to Raven while whacking a demon in the head with his metal staff as it collapsed, fading away into grey smoke. A second mass of demons charged at Raven, who was busy deflecting their fiery onslaught with black shields of arcane energy.

"Look, can we have this conversation later?" Raven hissed back, throwing the wave of creatures back as another reformed, engulfing her in flames. "_Without _my father's minions?"

"Agreed," Robin muttered as he tried to block out all emotions, doing the opposite of what Raven had warned him about. _I can't lose control and put Raven in danger. Starfire- _He choked on his thoughts as hot tears rose in his eyes, blurring his vision. He literally slapped them away, annoyed at himself. -_something like Starfire can't happen again to Raven. Not because of another stupid mistake I made._

His rage began to ebb away, leaving him calm and completely focused despite the melee of fire and black energy roaring around him. _Is this how Raven feels every day when she meditates?_

His new composure made him forget all his pain and annoyance, leaving a sort of numb, serene feeling of equanimity flowing over him. His limbs moved on a distant sort of autopilot from his brain as he was totally absorbed by the calm mentality, accepting the situation as he tried to find a suitable solution to it.

Suddenly, a growing hate began to grow in him, not his own, but someone- _or something- _else began to rapidly overwhelm his senses with a venomous froth of confusion and anger. _No! _he screamed silently, clawing out at something to hold, an anchor in the midst of the chaotic flood of negative emotions. _Raven told me that keeping your emotions under check would prevent the power's corruption!_

_Oh, but you're not my Raven, dear Robin, are you? _a voice, low with deliberation, whispered in his mind.

_Get! Out! _Robin screamed. _Stop. NOW!_

_Oh, Robin, you'll never truly escape from me. _Slade's voice taunted him, but Robin knew it was Trigon pulling the strings.

_No, this can't be happening! I'll never be like you!_

_You already are, Robin. Admit it. No matter how much you run, how much you hide, how much you deny it, how much you refuse to accept the truth, you will always be evil, far more than Raven will ever be. You are my Gem, Robin. Together, we are so much better for the world. Think of it- a world without those pesky mortals.  
_

_Sorry, I like the world._ Robin thought snarkily. _It's where I keep all my stuff._ But he knew he was right- and he wouldn't be able to dodge the blade now.

_You are mine, Robin. You are mine, and you will always be._

Then the world spun in darkness as Robin rose from his knees, four eyes glowing a brighter scarlet than any of the other possessed Titans through the black and white mask. The Mark of Scath burned chrome silver on his forehead, displayed unashamed, and ancient runes ran down his body in metallic strokes, telling a story far darker than Raven's.

_You are the real Trigon, Robin. You are the true incarnate of evil. I am but your shadow. You created me in your own rage. You started this, and you are going to end it, whether you like it or not._


	13. Chapter 13

_**{blankytherockdorkinsnobs- Disks, okay? Typo. The S key is near the C key and my S key doesn't tap right... yeesh.**_

_**minichurros123- Oh... okay then.**_

_**TheReviewer- Ah, someone has picked up the cookie crumb trail. :)**_

_**Jackie- Thanks, I will!**_

_**All- Sorry if I was a bit crabby with responses. I'm kind of irked at the moment at some people... not you guys, no worries. Like my teachers, for example. And the annoying girls in my class which make me seethe with rage. I won't let it affect my writing though or my mood overall (I hope), so no worries.}**_

The real Robin felt consumed, totally helpless in the sea of rage and ravenous destruction, the oily blackness swirling over his head. Trigon's words echoed, far off into the distance, and Robin tried to follow it, to get out of this half-real place and into the real world, where Raven needed him. As he struggled and strained at his bonds, the long chains of black slime held him tight, dragging him under the surface again as he screamed for help, the mess clogging up his lungs, constricting his throat so that he choked for breath, suffocating in the tangible darkness.

_Raven! _he screamed mentally. _Someone, anyone! Please-help m- _His plea for help was cut off as he was dragged under the furious black tide of hurt and aggression. He tried to breathe, to draw in the oxygen that he so desperately needed, but he sucked in black slime instead, which clogged up his windpipe as he spluttered, floundering in the oily ooze. Disturbing, haunting visions danced in front of his eyes as he was sucked into a whirl of night terrors.

**o0o0o0o0o0o0o00o0o0o0o0oo0o0 o0o0o0o00o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o00o0 o0o0o0o0o0oo00oo0o0o0o0o0o00 oo00o0oo0o0o00o0o0oo0**

_"Why did you let it happen, Robin? I thought- I thought you loved me. I thought you were the one." Starfire's tortured face screamed at him in grief and disbelief from the flickering darkness. "I-I thought you would do anything for me. You promised, Robin. You promised!" Her final moments came flooding back to him, her desperate face as Raven sever her soul from her body as she screamed in her tortured agony, drowning in the eternal blackness of the flawed, imperfect mind. Because of his flawed, imperfect mind._

_No, Starfire! Robin wanted to scream in despair. I didn't mean it like that! Please, Starfire, try to understand-!_

_But it was too late. Starfire's terrified face disappeared under the dark tentacles of the raging Raven._

_Robin wanted to scream out, lunge of her, try to save her, catch her hand, apologize,_ something, _but he was frozen to the spot. He could only watch as Starfire was dragged under the maelstrom of hate and hunger, as her eyes closed eternally._

Then, the scene morphed, and Robin was glad that the nightmare was over. He couldn't have been more wrong.

_The tent was a mass of somehow orderly chaos. Young girls ran about, grabbing their costumes, putting the last touches of their makeup on, dodging between the lion tamer, flicking his whip in the air, and the roaring, frenzied tigers behind the bars, their caretaker trying to soothe their jangling nerves with the promise of raw red meat, but to no avail. A certain nervous, excited tension buzzed in the air live live electricity as the performers ran through the rush and bustle to prepare for the big show._

_Robin saw himself- but much younger, scrawnier, a little wimpy boy which he could hardly believe was him, watching a taller woman style her hair in a dusty mirror. "Mother," he heard himself say in a relatively high voice, which he would have died in embarrassment if any of the Titans had heard his old voice, "Are you finished yet? The show is beginning!"_

_"No!" Robin screamed out at the woman as he realized what would happen, what night this was. "Don't get on the rope! You'll die!"_

_The woman gave no notion that she had heard him. "Yes, Dick. Come on- let's go to see the headmaster to show that we're ready." she told the boy in a very motherly voice as the younger Robin's hand slipped into hers._

_Robin was almost paralyzed with anxiety and fear for what he knew would happen. This is just a flashback of the past. he reminded himself. A flashback of something that has already happened. Nothing you do or say will change anything. But even with all his reasonable thinking, he couldn't shake off the chilling feeling of dread._

_"Mother," the younger Robin whispered as the two weaved through the bustling crowd. "I heard some men talking to the headmaster. They were threatening him to give them money. They sounded really mean, Mother, like they'd do anything to get what they wanted."_

_"No worries, my dear." the woman said, a bit worried at what her son had heard. "They were probably just acting."_

_The little Robin nodded, entirely trusting what his mother had said._

_"No!" Robin wanted to scream at the younger version of him. "Don't you realize what's going to happen? For Pete's sake, DO SOMETHING!" He couldn't just watch, relive the tragic moment when his mother and father would get on that frayed rope, only to plummet far below to their deaths. This is the past, he told himself, over and over again, but he couldn't force himself to fully believe it._

_I can't watch this again. he realized with a shuddering jolt. I can't watch this again. But some morbid curiosity drove him to follow them as the mother kissed the boy quickly on the cheek before hurrying away. "Mother will be completely fine." she told the boy. "Just wait here, Dick."_

_Robin looked up from the shadows at the high ropes which his parents would swing on. The sabotaged ropes that would break under their weight and send them falling, terrified, to their neck-snapping deaths._

_They took the fateful step, and jumped._

_He couldn't watch as two heart-rending screams tore out as they rushed down, far below, eyes wide with terror. Two sickening thuds, and a collective, shocked gasp from the audience. The little boy at the sidelines began to cry, tears rushing down his face as he realized what had happened._

_Robin felt like collapsing as he saw the crowd rush over to see what was happening, as his view was blocked by the whispering crowd. The same emotions hit him hard; confusion, anger, grief, and fear._

_It's the past! Robin screamed to himself mentally as tears streamed down his face. It's just a re-run!_

Just when he felt like collapsing, the world swirled around him in a chaotic dance into darkness_._

**o0o00o0o0o0o00o0o0o0o0o0o0o0 o0o00o0o0o0o0o0o0ooo0o00oo00 oo00o0oo0o0o0o00o0o0o0o0o0o0 o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o**

_Just a quick flashback to freshen up your memories. _Trigon purred deliberately as Robin came back to his senses, gasping for breath. He could picture the self-satisfied smirk plastered across his ugly, demonic face that he wanted to bash in _so very badly._

_What is this place? Where have you sent me? Why I am drowning in a mess of black sludge? What do you want with me? What are you going to do with Raven? _he demanded, still shaky from the replay of his parents' deaths. _Cough it up, four-eyes!_

_Patience, Robin. The answers will be clear to you shortly. About my daughter, I'm afraid you're a little tardy in that department._ Trigon replied coolly, which infuriated Robin to no end. _Your visitor is almost here._

_Who do you mean? Give me Raven!_ Robin demanded angrily. _If you want to see tomorrow, you're going to give me some answers and free her!_

_If _you _want to see tomorrow, you'll show some respect to your betters. _Trigon warned in Mad Mod's voice before switching back into his reverberating bass voice which made the earth tremble. _And besides, Robin, don't you want to meet your special guest which I had bring the end of your little birdie girlfriend?_

The rancid-smelling ooze released Robin with an audible slurp which made Robin want to regurgitate whatever lunch he still had in his digestive tract after the several mile swim food release period. As he struggled free of the remaining slime, he found his footing on a grey, nondescript rock slick with the stuff and turned to face his mystery opponent. As he glanced across the froth of polluted muck, his mask widened in shock and horror at Raven's murderer.

"No, it can't be! He would never-" he began in a hoarse, tortured whisper.

"Hello, Robin." the figure laughed, smirking evilly as his features were revealed by the light. As he stepped out of the shadows, the dying, flickering light shone on his features, giving him a shadowed, demonic look. Grey and black uniform, with an insignia of outstretched wings. A black mask covering most his face, and glimmering, amused yet serious dark eyes. A long, black cape, almost a cloak, draped over his back.

"Shocked?" Batman said, standing on the grey rock opposite him.


	14. Chapter 14

_**{minibird- No, not terrible at all. :D Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. Yes, Batman is supposed to be evil [thus no glow red eyes], you're right.}**_

Robin was stunned, unable to move in shock. "Wha- I mean, _why?" _he stammered incoherently.

Batman half-smiled at Robin the way he used to whenever he had made a stupid mistake as his sidekick. "Robin, I once told you a piece of wisdom." he started coolly. "I told you, when we first met, _never, never _take on a fight you can't win. Don't you remember?"

Robin immediately regained composure, mask narrowing as his bo staff lengthened in his hand. "Sorry, I haven't been exactly entertaining your wisdom in my head lately. I'm afraid I've taken on a lot of fights recently I knew couldn't win _and kicked their sorry butts_." He settled in a battle stance, glaring at him coldly. "_You're no different._"

Batman made no move to oppose him. "Brave words, Robin, but don't you realize- you'll never be able to defeat me. I'm your teacher, almost like your _father, _Robin. You'll never bring yourself to hurt _me, _much less kill me, would you, Robin? You're too good of a little boy."

Robin gritted his teeth, eye twitching with anger. He knew Batman was right. _Steel yourself. Who do you care for more- Raven or this backstabbing traitor?_

"My father's dead." he spat angrily, leaping across the stones as he charged at his mentor, eyes narrowed in rage. Batman's eyes widened in response, in fear and intimidation, as well as shocked melancholy. "Robin... you wouldn't." he whispered, terrified.

Robin slowed down, despite his urging to whack Batman soundly while he could. "I-" he started, but Batman's eyes narrowed again, lifting him up by his shirt swiftly dispatching him with a hard side-kick, knocking the wind out of him. He flew across the dark froth, slamming in a cloud of dust into a slanted grey stone which jutted out an angle out of the oily slick. Moving instinctively, he grabbed a birdarang and sunk one of its sharp blades in the rock, holding on as he panted for breath, the slime lapping dangerously close to his feet, threatening to suck him back in as he drew his legs up as a precaution.

Batman jumped lithely to a closer stone, kneeling, one arm resting easily on his knees as he peered smugly into Robin's face, eyes glittering with amused menace.

"Didn't I tell you so, Robin?" Batman taunted him, cocking his head to one side. "You'll always just be my dismal failure of an apprentice, _Dick._"

Robin gritted his teeth again as he yelled in anger, letting go of the birdarang as he swung out in a flying kick sideways, his foot connecting hard with Batman's solar plexus as the older man grunted, falling off the rock as he slammed into a lower outcropping, gasping for breath like a fish out of water. Robin landed lightly on his hands and feet on the higher rock, leaping down, landing on Batman hard, trapping him between the rocks and him. Batman's head was inches away where it hung off over the edge of the stone, the sludge threatening to pull him under, sucking him into its fathomless depths.

"Who's the dismal failure, now, Bruce?" Robin snarled, both hands clamped vise-like around the man's neck, strangling him as the latter's eyes rolled up in his head, choking for oxygen as his brain began to fail from asphyxiation, face turning purple, then blackish. Batman glared at him back, despite his losing predicament.

"You are." He hissed, as he flipped his legs under him, releasing the potential energy in a powerful back-kick as it caught Robin in the ribs, throwing him off the dark former hero as the Boy Wonder's neck snapped back as he hit hard rock with an audible grunt. Batman flipped as he landed lightly on his feet, cape billowing behind him like an ominous gale wind cloud in a darkened sky, bringing a thundering maelstrom of hate, anger, and an unsatisfiable, ravenous hunger for the complete eradication of all life on earth. Scarlet blood began to trickle from a cut in the nape of his neck where a protruding, sharp piece had scraped the soft skin. He winced, touching the back of his neck gingerly as his mask narrowed to slits in cold, furious determination where his face was hidden, hunched over in misery partway on the ground.

"Give up." Batman told him, walking to the edge of the rock and jumping over to where Robin lay, curled up on his side, coughing up a crimson mess of blood and saliva. "You can't win." He stepped casually, planting a foot on Robin's head so that his cheek was pressed to the cold stone where he gritted his teeth, snarling and hissing like a feral beast. "You'll always be my _lowly apprentice, isn't that right?_"

Robin snarled as he heard the deliberate words of his former mentor, taunting him with Slade's term for him. "I looked up to you, Batman." he hissed in anger and sadness. "I looked up to you, like the father that was taken away from me. You became my example, Batman. What I considered as the height of human perfection, what I wanted to be when I grew up. I tried to learn from you, to become the best fighter I could possibly be. I kept on believing in that, even when we went our separate ways. I kept on looking up to you until-" his expression hardened into bitter disgust. "-Until what you did today." He glanced up at Batman, his eyes burning with a severe, furious inferno. Angry tears streaked down his face, leaving greyish black streaks of salty water mixed with dirt and grime, a face even more both pitiful and intimidating at the same time that he realized. "How could you betray everything you knew, in selfishness to save yourself? How could you just sit pretty, knowing that everyone was suffering, _dying? What made you into this monster that I don't recognize?"_ he choked out.

For a fleeting moment, Batman's face softened and he relented, a shadow passing over his face in regret and self-reproach, but just as quickly as the spark had flickered in existence, it died out as his face hardened into a mask of cruel stone again. "Because I'm not a _total idiot, unlike someone._ I know when a battle is lost, and when it's won._ There's nothing I could ever do, Robin. Our world is doomed to die. The age of mortals is past, Robin! Realize that!" _His eyes was glowing with an unnatural light, making him look like a madman as he shrieked in victory. "_The age of Trigon has begun!"  
_

Robin's anger took over his mind and his humanity as he roared, a ferocious, silver tiger leaping out of his body as his human body collapsed, fading, on the cold stone. The tiger sprang at Batman, tackling him and pinning him to the rock, the victim's back flat with no escape. The tiger morphed back into Robin as his teeth, bared, almost feral, were clenched in an angry line. "You may be Bruce Wayne once, my mentor, or Batman, my model example," he growled, menace making even the older man shiver with apprehension. "but I don't recognize you anymore."

The fear from Batman's eyes drifted away to the crazed fire again as Batman laughed, the evil cackle echoing off the rocks, screaming over the roaring, black tide, making Robin shudder at what his beloved teacher had become. "You're not the only one who received Trigon's gifts." he snarled, amused. "We'll meet again, Robin. And next time, I won't spare you." He closed his eyes, and his body dissolved into a cloud of greyish black bats which fluttered away into the misty darkness, their sharp cries echoing throughout the darkened place, leaving a black, waving bolt of fabric in his grip.

Robin's anger ebbed away, leaving only startled shock and pity in its place. "Batman," he whispered, sinking to one knee as he held the empty black cape, tears brimming in his eyes as he remembered the kind, yet strict, reasonable man which had taken him in after his parents' murder. "What did Trigon do to you?"

He turned up to the black sky above him, the black water lapping at his feet. "I've lost my friends, my family, my-" he choked on the next syllable as he remembered Starfire's terrible demise, "-love." Anger surging up in him again, his mask narrowed in hate and rage as uncontrollable tears streamed down his cheeks in rushing rivulets as he screamed out in agony. "What else could you possibly take from me? How much more grief could you inflict me and my friends around me with? Have you no conscience, no honor, in your own evil, tainted, twisted heart? _Have you no love for anyone?_"


	15. Chapter 15

_**{XLittleRedKnightX- Okay, forgot to answer question again, sorry... Robin is seeing Raven in his delirium (not really there) so technically he was insane that one chapter. Starfire blasted him to stop him from going to Raven's rescue in vain and hurting himself.}**_

Robin trudged through the black muck, hissing in annoyance as the slime slurped at his ankles, pulling it harshly free.

_Raven's gone. Dead.  
_

The truth was almost too much for Robin. It seemed so unrealistic, so unreasonable for the talented, powerful enchantress to just be gone like that. Batman hadn't a scratch on him when Robin had first saw him, presumably after fighting, and killing, Raven.

_Maybe she's not dead. Maybe Batman was just bluffing to scare you or to catch your attention. _Instantly, he was disgusted. _So many maybes. Can I just have a single, definite, solid, flat-out fact?_

His brain refused to grant him that wish, and in the end, everything had been as muddled and as incomprehensibly impossible to grasp as before.

The rocks had disappeared under the dark grey colored mud a while ago, so he had been, unwillingly, forced to slog through the mess, the dirty liquid sloshing against his legs.

_And I thought the inside of a whale's mouth was gross. _he thought, grimacing as he looked down at the whale drool covered, black mud stained uniform. He definitely didn't look like anyone decent, much less the well-respected and known Robin, former sidekick of, ahem, _former_ hero, Batman from Gotham City.

_If I saw myself walking down a dark alley, I would draw my explosive disks at the ready and summon my team to battle and ask Raven or Starfire to knock myself out. _he thought grimly. _I certainly wouldn't want to place Raven's life in the hands of someone who looks like me. _His expression growing impossibly darker, he muttered, "Yeah, if there's anything left to place in my hands." He kicked a stone fragment in the water away moodily, but the stuff wrapped around his shoe, pulling it down to the shallow bottom, the sole firmly trapped against the soft silt of the... _river's _bottom. The sticky slime began to crawl up his leg like it was something alive, and in pure annoyance and irritation, Robin drew a birdarang, the sharp weapon's two blades unfolding with a metallic _shiink _as he stabbed the water, slicing diagonal in a knife-wise movement to cut apart the water. However, like something with a brain, the water slid apart where the birdarang sliced downwards, and instead of cutting open the ropy strands of muck, he ended up slicing his leg open, with a tortured, sharp intake of breath. The water receded, seeming to laugh at Robin as it sloshed back into the rippling waves.

He snarled at it, despite knowing it was inanimate, and pressed his palms to the accidental wound in an attempt to stop the flow. Blood seeped from between his fingers and stained his gloves a darkish red as sheer agony coursed up his leg, making Robin's mask narrow to slits in pain.

"You see, bird boy, that's why you don't play with dangerous toys until you've learned how to use them." a filtered voice called out from behind him. Robin whipped around in surprise, double birdarang daggers poised to stab.

A black figure stood in the distance, scarlet-marked hands up in the universal, _Whoa, hold it there _palms up. "Didn't come here to fight." the voice echoed from behind the mask. "Cool it, kid."

"Red X." Robin snarled. "Why are you here?"

If Red X's face was visible, his face would be plastered with a self-satisfied, most annoying smirk. "Straight to business, huh, good boy? I didn't come here to fight, kid. I just need you for a delivery."

Robin cocked his head to one side, his hands in a death grip on the red and yellow knives. "You can take your little package and get out of here, because I'm not some errand boy." he hissed belligerently.

"Oh, really?" Red X asked, unfazed. "Alright then, don't say I didn't ask." Whipping around, seven deadly knives flashed through the air at Robin, who, mask two wide circles, quickly spun his blades, deflecting all of them as they sunk into the stone like butter.

"What the-" he began, startled.

"One problem with that, bird kid. _You're the package._" Red X snarled smugly, charging toward Robin, a sharp wrist blade spiraling on each of his wrists as he slashed in a  
diagonal arc as Robin raised the knives as sparks flew off the clash of metal against metal as the two strained against each other, breath hissing out as they tried to overwhelm the other with sheer strength.

"Give... Up." Red X snarled between heaves of breath

"Look, after your help with Ding Dong Daddy, I don't want to hurt you!" Robin hissed back in an attempt to escape fighting.

"I told you, we're even now." Red X growled out as he shoved on the blades with a sudden burst of strength, throwing Robin back as he staggered back a few steps.

"How did you-?" Robin whispered in surprise.

"Talent." Red X whispered back smugly and charged, stabbing at Robin's solar plexus as the latter's blades quickly flashed down, trapping his left wrist blade in the sharp angle of the long-bladed birdarang. Red X's eyes narrowed in frustration, jabbing up with the other knife toward the hollow where the shoulder and the arm met as Robin trapped the second too, Red X hissing in annoyance.

"Why won't just just let me take you?" he snarled in irritation as Robin manipulated him arms into a X, ironically trapping them, and dispatched him with a powerful side kick as Red X slammed hard into a rock.

"Talent." Robin returned smugly, whipping around in a tornado kick as his foot connected hard with Red X's right chin bone as Red X toppled over, eyes wide, touching his mask where a long crack ran along it, threatening to shatter.

"Now!" he commanded, and Robin whipped around in surprise as a magenta rift hex tore through the air, knocking Robin unconscious as he collapsed on the ground, twitching, as Jinx strode out from the shadows, a cocky grin on her cruel face, four red eyes glowing with a bright flame.

"Good to have you back a villain." Red X told her, before heaving Robin's limp form on her shoulder. "Let's get moving to the execution zone."


	16. Chapter 16

_**{minichurros123- Yup, execution zone. He's not really gonna get beheaded here or anything, they just call it that because that's where they used to kill people/prisoners. Just wanna clarify a bit.  
**_

_**Jackie- Thanks, his location will be revealed in this one.}**_

Robin groaned as he rolled over, or he would have if he hadn't been hanging from the ceiling thirteen feet up. Letting out a muffled scream, Robin began to struggle desperately, searching for the chink in the armor.

_This is the same warehouse. _he realized with a start. _The same place where Kitten tried to kill Raven.  
_

"Let me _go!_" he tried to shout, but it came out more like, "Mmf mhn MFF!"

"Not exactly eloquent, now, bird boy?" Red X drawled as he gazed up at the trussed up Titan swinging on the thick, steel chain. "I've got an itching my belt, now..." Suddenly, he whipped around, throwing three X shaped shruiken at Robin as, mask wide, kicked back the best he could as the chain swung out of the way, the knives embedding themselves into the far grey wall.

If looks could kill, Robin would have killed Red X seventeen times over.

"Hey, kid." Red X dismissed casually. "Not my fault the belt's scratchy. What, couldn't come up with a better design?"

"Not like you could come up with _anything, _for a start. At least I can design a decent suit. But, _noo, _you had to just steal the perhaps most dangerous suit I've ever made." Robin muttered behind the gag pulled tightly around his jaw, but through the dirty fabric, no sound made it through.

"Nice look for you, Boy Wonder." Red X laughed tauntingly. "Because that mouthpiece is _soo you._"

Robin's mask narrowed as he tried to cut the chain with a birdarang behind his back.

"Forget it, kid." Red X told him coolly. "That chain is ten times stronger than your cape. Your flimsy metal toys aren't going to scratch it a bit. We're a bit paranoid on terms of the Boy Wonder today."

"Vhere zis ve boy? Give him to me _now! Trigon is growing impatient!_" a thick Russian accent rang out, a dark silhouette lurking in the darkness.

"Look, Rojo, or whatever your name is, you may be Horn-Man's second in command, but _nobody, nobody you hear, tells me off!_" Red X snapped. "I'm not part of your stupid little ensemble of old-school, big, bad, villains, okay? I'm a _thief. I work only by myself and only listen to myself!_ So you can just-"

Madame Rouge's eyes flared in the darkness as her hands shot out, Red X's eyes widening in fear as she lifted him up by the throat and began to choke him.

"Vhese children never learn. Vhen vill they realize that vhey must respect their elders?" she snarled, her black-gloved hands strangling Red X, who choked for breath, eyes wide as he tried to plead for his life through his choking breaths.

"Le-" _choke _"Meh-" _choke _"Go-! Plea-" he cries were silenced as his head lolled back, mouth behind the mask slightly open.

Robin winced as Madame Rouge deposited Red X on the ground crudely, throwing him to one side carelessly as if he was just a rag doll. Jinx's red, glowing eyes widened in fear and terror as she took a couple hesitant steps back.

"And you," Madame Rouge hissed, whipping her head around, her short, black hair flying around in a black halo, giving her a sort of demonic, malevolent look of a devilish spirit. "You have the dark girl, the lord's daughter, prepared, no?"

Jinx nodded quickly, gulping in intimidation. "Yes, Madame Rosso- I mean, Rouge. She's- she's in the-" Her eyes widened in terror and shock. "I mean, she's-"

"You do not have her?" Madame Rouge snarled in a cold, threatening voice, her hand curling in a fist.

Jinx, looking down at her feet, shivering, closed her four eyes as her entire frame was wracked in shivers. "No, Madame Rouge."

Madame Rouge roared, and lashed out as Jinx screamed, the spy's arms grabbing Jinx's black and purple collar, eyes narrowed in rage. "Children. They are so unreliable."

"Please!" Jinx screamed as her eyes stared back in unbridled fear, trying not to look at Red X's crumpled form in the peripheral darkness. "I'll- I'll get her! Just give me one more chance!"

Madame Rouge's eyes gleamed with hostility. "I have already granted you a chance once, girl. With the Kid Flash. Look how that turned out, no?"

Jinx shivered, averting her eyes. "Then just make it quick."

Madame Rouge laughed, eyes gleaming with cold cruelty and ruthlessness as she threw Jinx into a wall as the latter cried out in pain, clutching her side, gasping for breath, feline, palish lilac eyes opening, flaring in agony. "Oh, that wouldn't be fair to your masked friend X, would it, girl? No, I must give you both the same." She shot out an arm and grabbed the cowering Jinx by the collar again. Her other hand crept close to her throat as Jinx closed her eyes, shivering, not bothering to gulp in a breath. Madame Rouge laughed, but the noise was cut off sharply as she screamed in pain, falling forward, eyes wide in surprise. Jinx took the rare opportunity to leap free and throw a magenta hex at her as the spy fell back, knocked unconscious.

Robin swung to the ground on the shimmering, thick chain, landing nimbly on his feet, throwing down a section of severed chain.

"Guess the manufacturer slacked off on his work." he noted, sheathing a birdarang and storing it away in his belt as he kicked the chain aside.

"Why did you save me?" Jinx asked in a frail, whispery voice. "I- I shot you and dragged you here against your will. I stopped you from winning against Red X."

"You were controlled by Trigon. It wasn't you." Robin told her, extending a green, gloved hand, smiling faintly. "And you're still very much a Titan."

Jinx shook her head, backing away like a frightened quarry of prey with the hunter too close for comfort.

"No," she whispered. "I once told Kid Flash that I was bad luck. I can't be a heroine. I can't be one of the good guys, because I'm not good myself. I-I have to go, Robin. I can't help you. _He'll _get me."

Robin didn't falter. "Jinx, we can beat him. But I need your help."

Jinx shook her head wildly, her hair shaking in the cold breeze blowing through the warehouse. "I'm not good. They would hunt me down, and-and," she whimpered, eyes wide. _"No!" _she screamed in a wild frenzy as she turned tail and ran away, tears running down her face. _"I can't, no!"_

Robin watched her go, unwilling to take chase and hurt her further, mask narrowing in rage as he snarled, staring in horrified shock at Red X's still, unmoving body, walking over and kneeling, taking an old canvas and covering the thief's body gently.

_Two dead. Starfire and Red X. Both people who have were willing to help me. Both too young to die. Batman and Jinx crazy, the others all possessed on a rampage march by Trigon. Raven missing. _he thought, bowing his head at his former enemy, feeling only pity and grief for him now, not even bothering to take back the suit or uncover the face behind the mask. _How many more are going to die by Trigon's talons?_


	17. Chapter 17

_**{Waterpokemon- Aaand... changed. Edited chapter 12 is up. Thanks for reminding me. I meant to do it a while back but forgot. Again, typo- C key is near S key. It's supposed to say "disks" but I typed it wrong. (sighs) Like how someone put "bowels" instead of "bowls" by accident. If you see another one, point it out and please just disregard until I can get to fixing it. Thanks for pointing that out, and thanks for cooperating. So, yeah.  
**_

_**Sorry took so long to update. Writer's Block and busy with stuff. And yes, starts with Raven because I don't know where to send Robin, to be honest.}**_

Raven's feet skidded back a couple more precious inches as she clenched her jaw, holding up a dark shield of energy as Batman pressed up on it, shoving her back another five inches, smiling serenely. To her extreme and eternal irritation and anger, he hadn't even broken a sweat.

She was losing, and she knew it. Reaching out a pale hand at a nearby boulder, she audibly grunted as she hurled the rubble at Batman's head, who dodged it swiftly and slammed a foot into her weakened shield while she was distracted. She was hurled back, striking the collapsing wall full-force, forcing it to buckle down on top of her with a deafening roar.

Coughing and spluttering, she choked out a feeble, tremulous scream as the rocks tumbled down on her, and she heard more than one bone crack. Twisting around, a lance of excruciating pain shot up through her, making her scream again in agony, tears running down her face from the sheer pain. Something warm and sticky trickled down from multiple cuts on her body, stinging pain ravaging her incessantly.

"Oh, give up." Batman called, smirking as he peered into the rubble crushing the girl. "I don't really want to do this to my old friend's sweetheart."

Raven snarled from inside the heap, shouting with a fierce rage as she erupted out from the stones, a black soul-raven shrieking as it opened its colossal, glassy wings to the sky, blocking out the eclipsed sun.

"For the last time," she screamed in annoyance, blanching impossibly whiter with annoyance and the slightest hints of embarrassment, "_There is nothing between me and Robin!"_

A flicker of fear wavered in Batman's eyes before quickly being extinguished. "Whatever, girl." he returned, shrugging his shoulders indolently. "I still gotta kill ya." He cocked his head and motioned with his fingers for Raven to charge at him. She didn't disappoint him.

The massive bird shrieking in fury, Raven's soul-self plunged toward Batman, eyes glowing red with rage as she screamed. She didn't need her spell words _Azarath Metrion Zinthos _in her frenzied state as she literally roared, jerking her arms out in a knife-wise movement as the ground rifted under Batman. The latter didn't even flinch as he sprang lithely for the edge of the chasm, grabbing it and flipping onto his feet easily.

"Nice try, kiddo." he said casually, dusting himself off a bit. "My turn."

Eyes burning with a malevolent, evil power, he snarled, the serpentine sound echoing from the abyss of broken stone, making Raven falter for just the tiniest bit as a fiery vermilion blaze consumed Raven, shocking her with its electric tentacles of energy as she screamed, her flight cut off abruptly as she plummeted into the chasm, the soul-raven cawing as it shone with the brightest darkness and exploded, dispersing on the cold, harsh wind.

Raven's terrified expression lingered for a moment in the frail eclipse sun, then vanished into the shroud of the deep, dark and unknown as Batman watched her fall, indigo cloak billowing after her like the broken wing of a flightless raven.

"That's one way to kill a mockingbird." Batman noted, and slammed his hands together as the rift burned molten gold, slamming together with a final, foreboding crash, like a clap of thunder from a violent maelstrom.

As he walked away, his cape waving and twisting in the howling gale, the golden, dark glow faded as the shadows claimed the dark figure, leaving an unexplainable thirteen-feet scar running across the barren, burning plain, wisps of smoke still rising from the smoldering embers as a girl, far below, fell down an infinite abyss to the gates of death.

_**{Sorry for short chapter. Writer's Block still up and going. Going to aim for a longer chapter tomorrow. I'll try to stick to my one chapter everyday rate of update starting from here on out, but no promises as I have two ongoing stories now. No more three-hour days lapses though, anymore, unless if I'm really busy.}**_


	18. Chapter 18

_**{Reviewer- Ah yes, it did, but apparently, according to the Wiki, Azarath was rebuilt.**_

_**Random Person- She didn't send her anywhere, just beneath the floor in the magma.**_

_**Well... great. I just totally failed my goal. I'll try harder, I promise!}**_

Flickers of shadows raced across the total darkness, black against black as Raven fell, eyes closed, body limp. The faintest golden and scarlet glow roiled at the seemingly never-ending chasm's pit, a tumult of fire and molten rock.

But somehow, everything seemed still, unreal, serene. Raven felt completely calm.

Her life flashed before her eyes- seeing Trigon for the first time, exiling herself to Earth, meeting what would be the Titans, convincing them not to fight. Her countless adventures with her friends- her family, even, now- seemed to be in fast-forward.

It was odd that all these events should happen, that she should lose so much and gain so little, and yet she felt like this was meant be, and had always been.

A roil of volcanic wind screamed, twisting around her like an invisible serpent, the heat searing her skin. Yet she felt no pain, no rush. Like the magma was not there, and she was safe back in the Tower, with no Trigon-

_Trigon! _she realized with a start as she desperately tried to access her powers, straining as she tried to levitate, to fly away from the magma, heart beginning to race. The dry, harsh winds began to burn her skin as she cried out in pain, fear, and anxiety, clawing wildly at nothing as she grabbed at the sides of the chasm, her fingernails scraping thin against the rough stone. Her cloak fluttered around her like a ragged ghost, slapping her in the face as she plummeted downwards.

Time was running out as she scrabbled at the chasm walls, the hot, harsh wind screaming in her ears.

She closed her eyes, shivering even though the heat from the fire made her skin erupt in blisters as the air around her became increasingly searing, charring her skin with black soot.

_It's over. _she thought hopelessly, tilting her head up to the sealed fissure so far above which glared down at her mercilessly. _It's all over._

The slightest sensation of burning flesh began to ravage her ankle as the magma began to close over her with the sibilant hiss, wrapping around her like a fiery cloak of agony, like the glowing, red image of her demonic heritage.

Something flashed above her head in a scintillation of sparks, giving her a sense of hopeful deja vu, but her mind, paralyzed by the inferno, was delirious from pain as her eyelid drifted almost lazily closed, the darkness creeping up from the edges of her vision. Raising a pale, trembling hand weakly, she let out a long, tortured, shaky scream of anger, hurt, grief, and hopelessness as a solitary tear rolled down her cheek, dissipating with a snarling hiss as it evaporated into a thin, white wisp.

It was all over. Trigon had won.

Mostly.

A flash of black, red, and green blinded her dying eyesight as her arm was almost ripped out of its socket as she opened her mouth feebly in a silent scream. The magma slurped at her skin, leaving angry burn marks, seemingly unwilling to give up its prize so easily as the molten stone churned more violent than ever. Raven herself, fighting weakly, tried to free herself from the iron grip around her arm, but it was futile as she managed to croak out a pitiful whisper of a scream. She could feel herself falling quickly and landing, her tattered cloak blinding her vision momentarily. Not waiting for an explanation, the first thing she did was sweep up a sharp rock nearby and hurl it at her mystery captor/saver with an audible grunt, using up all her remnant, meager strength as she toppled over.

Rewarded with a pained yelp, a pair of green gloves flew down to a buckling knee, cutting deep as the rock drops to the ground, the serrated edge of the stone tinged deep crimson, leaving a long slash across his leg.

"Okay," Robin hissed through clenched teeth, squeezing his eyes closed in pain and to stop the instinctive tears from rising, "That was totally unnecessary."

"Robin," Raven breathed in relief, wincing from the nasty-looking, oozing burns covering her face, arms, and legs. "Thank Azar, High Enchanter of Azarath. I thought you were Batman trying to finish me off with a flourish."

A shadow of grief passed over Robin's face in the dim, glowing fire of the narrowly avoided magma, sending a dark golden glow over his face. The fleeting emotion quickly dispersed as swiftly at it had come, as Robin settled with a dry, cracked, "Yeah."

Raven was immediately contrite, but she hid it expertly as she had countless time with practice on Beastboy whenever she snapped meanly at him with less than happy-go-lucky results. "So... what now?" she muttered indifferently, looking down a twisting, narrow corridor delving into the heart of the earth. "You're still the leader."

Robin winced as he slowly stood up, hands still pressed to his most recently obtained wound. "Down the tunnel, I guess." he forced out from between breaths. Casting a second glance at Raven, he drew in his breath sharply. "Are you strong enough to manage?"

Raven nodded shortly, dragging herself to her feet as she made a few tottering, almost imperceptible steps toward the gaping entrance, sucking in heavy, ragged, forced breaths before collapsing in a huddled, miserable, indigo heap on the ground.

"Ow." she mumbled, face devoid of emotion.

Robin walked over to her and knelt, heaving her up with an audible grunt. "Well, that was the understatement of the century. Obviously, no." he noted, starting toward the entrance, still limping badly as his leg dripped a thin, vermilion trail of blood on the stark stone.

Raven relaxed, complying without complaint, almost blacking out in Robin's arms as she peered weakly into the darkness, quiet, eyes half-closed.

"So..." she murmured indifferently, voice barely above a whisper. "How did you happen to pay a visit to the fiery underworld of my fa- Trigon's?"

Robin didn't look down at her as he trudged on into the eternal blackness blindly, acting a whole lot more confident than he felt, although his apprehensive shivers were almost palpable in the hot, smoky air. "Same way you did, courtesy of-" his voice cracked, before he picked up hesitantly, "Batman."

Raven looked up and down Robin, scanning him as the latter shot a sideways glance self-consciously. "You look relatively untouched to be thrown in a volcanic chasm." she said, a hint of a question curling the end of her sentence upwards in an implied inquiry.

"I wasn't as unfortunate as you, I would say." Robin replied, "Just did a bit of walking to get here." Leaving a trailing silence, he implied to Raven that he wasn't inclined to talk.

Raven nodded slightly, her breaths coming short, ragged, and barely audible. Suddenly, she hissed in pain, her hand flying to her arm before snatching it away as a second jolt of pain shot up through her from contact.

"I-I'm sorry," Robin stammered apologetically, "Did I hurt you? Are you alright?"

"Fine," Raven hissed through a tight jaw. "Keep on walking."

Suddenly, Robin froze, making Raven's head snap forward as she hissed again as the sensitive, blistered skin was stretched, cracking in a evil ooze. Robin didn't respond, and Raven could have sworn his ears were perked up like a dog's in the darkness.

"Something's coming toward us." he whispered breathlessly, voice barely audible over the strange noises in the tangible shadows.

A complete silence followed as the two Titans remained petrified, completely still, too scared to breathe lest their new pursuer sense their presence.

With no warning, Robin dropped to the ground, holding Raven carefully above the ground, nearly crushing her as an unseen projectile hurtled through the air where his neck had been a fraction of a second ago. Splintering and smashing into a thousand tiny stone fragments which rained the two in dust, Robin wheezed as he drew his staff, gently laying down Raven behind him.

Two pairs of four, scarlet eyes gleamed malevolently in the darkness as the roar of a tiger echoed in the endless stone corridor as they crept closer, Robin throwing down an explosive disk down in the general direction of the feral cry, throwing up a melee of sparks which illuminated a fleeting image in its wan light.

"Don't they just get harder and harder to fight?" Robin whispered.


	19. Chapter 19

_**{EmberAmberFiradus- Thanks, Glad you liked it. :)}**_

Robin slipped into a defensive stance as the footsteps drew near, a second projectile of rock breaking from the ground and hurtling toward Raven. Robin intercepted quickly, smashing it to bits with his staff. The point that Raven got an at least badly bruising, sharp pebble bath simply could not be helped.

The flicker of the faraway magma cast a scarlet glow into the deepest heart of the earth, illuminating hauntingly the image of a blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl, and beside her a sleek green Siberian tiger. Her hair and his fur glinted in the inferno's dull, angry glow, giving it the look as if they were matted, soaked in blood.

Robin shivered a bit, before regaining composure, steeling himself.

A distant boom, like faraway thunder roared back the way they had come as an unseen force tore away the walls and floor under him, glowing a powerful golden shade. Mask widening in surprise, Robin fell dangerously back, grabbing Raven as he flipped in mid-air, landing on his knees on a narrow jut out of the sheer rock wall, rock dislodged by his feet falling into the fiery abyss below. Breathing heavily, he winced as Raven's head slammed against the wall as she groaned, eyes fluttering.

"I owe you two now." Robin whispered apologetically, and turned to face the enemy.

Terra leaned back slightly, floating almost casually on a slab of stone, Beastboy, morphing into a hawk, shrieking as he soared beside her, regarding Robin with a pair of cool, icy, intelligent eyes.

Robin stared back, expression unreadable, as he tightened his grip on his staff.

Terra smiled almost sweetly, cocking her head to one side, an unnatural gleam in her four crimson eyes.

"Remember me?" she cooed, flicking her wrist as the ledge beneath Robin crumbled into dust, leaving him plummeting to the magma below.

Robin's mask widened in surprise and panic as he drew two grappling birdarangs, shooting them each in a different direction- one to the sheer rock wall, one to circle and secure Raven. Unfortunately, in his panic, he hadn't realized the gust of volcanic wind that had been screaming fiercely, whirling in a mad dance in the chasm. His first birdarang missed the wall despite being thrown to the side at an angle, burying itself shallowly in the stone, whereas the other missed completely, melting in the magma with a sibilant hiss as Raven continued to plummet, eyes wide open, toward the magma.

"Raven!" Robin shouted, flashing out a hand instinctively to catch Raven's fingers as they slipped from his grasp threateningly, both of them breathing heavily as the birdarang began to pull loose under their weight, leaving them precariously dangling over the magma, plummeting down into its depths any second now.

Beastboy smiled a vicious, raptor-beak smile, and soared toward the two of them, shrieking in victory, beak gleaming in the angry firelight. Robin watched him, ready to swing out of the way if need be. Beastboy totally ignored him, however, and flew deliberately toward the narrow cord holding Robin to the birdarang and his lifeline in the crumbling rock without beating his wings once.

Robin's mask widened as he realized what was going on.

"No-" he barely had time to whisper as Beastboy lifted his head high and sliced the rope with his razor beak swiftly with a flourish as Robin screamed, holding a severed length of cord and a dying girl.

* * *

Robin considered his options swiftly. He could send a third birdarang and pray it hit something solid, but with the gusts that was about probability 1 in 1 thousand, approximately. Then, again, there was that 0.1% percent that he would hit, but even then, he didn't want to take the risk of killing Terra or Beastboy. Because they weren't just any other villains- they were, at least, former Titans. For goodness gracious sakes, he wouldn't have died eighteen times over if it weren't for them.

But then again, he was going to die, along with Raven. Raven, who had given up so much for the good of everyone else but her.

Raven, would had come so close to being-

_Stop. _he chided himself. _Concentrate. And besides, don't you think it's a bit cruel to just flsuh your relationship with Starfire down the drain and forget it just because you thought Raven-_

_Excuse me? _Raven snapped. _Thinking like I'm not here?_

He then realized the girl in question was a talented, immensely powerful psychic as his mask popped open in comical Os. _Crap._

Even though Robin wasn't facing her, he could have sworn she was rolling her eyes.

_If I'm not interrupting you, _she noted sourly. _You might be interested a rock outcropping is coming up on your left, right about... this instant.  
_

Robin shot out an arm to the left swiftly, grabbing on to the probable rock. His fingernails skidded, but he clenched his jaw and held tighter as he came to a stop, one hand dangling down, holding Raven's wrist, one hand slipping out from a narrow jut of rock.

"That was close." he breathed.

"That was useless." a smug voice called out from behind him as Terra soared into view, hands clenched in glowing, golden-yellow fists as a slab of stone carried her toward Robin.

"Too bad the magma didn't get you." Robin snarled bitterly. "Would save me a lot of grief." Typical losing-side banter.

Terra smirked, ignoring the comment with a negligent flick of her wrist as a huge boulder smashed itself into bits inches from his nose, threatening to break the rock which Robin was holding precariously onto. Robin winced as the collision rained tiny pieces of stone shrapnel on him with a noise like a summer rain.

"You realize I control earth and stone?" Terra asked, twirling a lock of gleaming golden-blonde hair casually around her finger as the other hand began to slow close in a fist. The narrow ledge of stone which Robin was dangling off of began to glow yellow as the sound of splitting stone cracked ,foreboding, in the air like a warning to an inevitable end. Namely, getting barbecued in a sea of magma.

"Pass the BBQ sauce?" Terra asked innocently, blinking her clear blue eyes which glowed with a powerful golden intensity.

Robin's mask widened in terror and anxiety. "You wouldn't."

Terra's smirk only grew wider. "Sorry, roasted pork reserved for me. I afraid you'll just have to _eat dirt._"

She clamped her fist together as the rock snapped in two, leaving Robin and Raven to fall into the roiling inferno below.


	20. Chapter 20

**_{Sorry for another late update. Writer's Block is laughing in my face. Break means change from real world to mind (like Raven's mind with doppelgangers?).}_**

Time seemed to slow down for Raven as she fell. A second stretched into a minute, a minute an hour. Now she knew how those characters in Beastboy's ridiculous, cheesy, brain-rotting felt in those useless, nonsensical action movies.

_This would be an 'I-told-you-so it was real!' type situation that would involve a Beastboy Babyish Tantrum episode. _she sighed inwardly. She craned her neck upwards, squinting through the hazy stir of smoke. _If we still had the real Beastboy. _she added longingly to herself.

Immediately, she was disgusted with herself.

_Snap out of it! _she snapped to herself. _Get outta there, fuchsia cloak!_

Focusing intensely like Robin on the hunt for Slade (for those who don't know, that's pretty intense), she tried to channel her A.W.O.L. powers.

_Hey, doppelgangers, this is a great time to give some help._

* * *

Her emotions, normally cooped up and hidden away, began waving both arms frantically in Raven's mind, calling out ideas that didn't help at all. For example, Rude suggested, "Take Robin, and use the power of flatulence to propel yourself upward. Genius."

"Thanks, but no thanks." Raven muttered. "Forget I asked. Better off just drowning in magma and dying a horrible, burning, painful death."

All of the colorfully cloaked doppelgangers hung their heads, muttering and grumbling. Timid looked depressed- hold, more depressed than usual. Brave's head perked up as she shouted, "Hey, insensitive!"

Rude nodded scornfully, giving a loud burp worthy of Cyborg. "For once, I agree with barf clothes."

Brave flared as she turned around, facial expression resembling scarily alike red-cloaked Rage, snarling at Rude. "What did you call me?"

Rage smirked. "Anyone bring popcorn and soda? Could I borrow a disposable camera from you, Happy?"

Timid pulled her hood farther over her head and slunk into the shadows, cowering and shaking like it was twenty degrees below zero.

"Barf clothes." Rude responded casually, as if daring Brave to make her move.

Brave was literally steaming at this point. "YOU-"

_"JUST SHUT UP YOU IMMATURE PINHEADS! GO AWAY!"_ Raven shouted, both out loud and mentally as the doppelgangers froze and walked away, shooting her dirty looks. Even Happy had disappeared from view, slinking away as her bright pink cloaks darkened to mauve.

* * *

Robin craned his head up to look at Raven.

"Raven," he said seriously. "Are you alright?"

"Super." Raven muttered. "Until we hit the magma."

Indeed, the magma was rising up to meet them at incredible speed as Robin turned away, refusing to look at it.

"Okay." he said calmly, though he felt like he was going to puke and have a nervous breakdown, desperately trying not to show his jangling nerves. "Raven, can you access your powers?"

"Formalities, crap formalities, Robin!" Raven lashed out angrily. "Does it look like it? Can _you _'access your powers'? For goodness gracious sakes, _stop wasting time and get something done!"_

This was the part with the standstill silence if the volcanic wind hadn't been screaming in their ears. Mostly standstill silence anyways.

Robin cleared his throat, deciding wisely not to counterattack with a backhand retort. "No, I can't." he said, without any trace of anger in his voice. "Mine just come and ago. I've only had them for a few hours."

"You won't have them another minute if you don't hurry up and think of something." Raven snapped angrily, still annoyed by her inability to formulate a good plan. She knew her words sounded cruel, but they were the ugly truth.

Robin breathed in and out, focusing his mind for a few precious seconds before shaking his head. "There's nothing within my power that I can do. You have one though, I'm sure?" he asked, more hoping than knowing it for a flat-out fact. Because he didn't know it for a flat-out fact.

Raven closed her eyes before opening them again. "I can try one. It probably won't work." She looked down at the roiling mass. "Better just to hit the magma. It might backfire."

Robin smiled partly. "Better to say we tried once and failed than say we didn't try at all."

Raven shook her head. "No- it won't work."

Robin turned serious suddenly. "Look, we have fifteen seconds left before we die, and that's an overestimate. Whatever you have in mind _do it now!"_

Raven gritted her teeth, annoyed by Robin's overly leaderly tone (bossy, to say it without polite hints), but knew he was dead right.

"Don't say I didn't warn you." she muttered angrily, and began to chant.

_"Azarath Metrion Zinthos... Carazon Rakashas Enderez... Vaserix Endrien Azarath... Azarath..." _

The words transitioned smoothly from her tongue into the volcanic wind, which died down slightly as the enchantment grew louder, the ancient language of her people. A sense of calm and reassurance flowed into her, blocking out all her fear and dread.

Until a dull thud, followed by the slurping sound of magma.

Raven opened her eyes twisting her head around.

"Robin!" she yelled. "Robin, not funny!"

Robin wasn't there.

She was alone.


	21. Chapter 21

_**{Cruelestnightmare- I'm sorry... ;( It was necessary...you will see why in next chapter.  
**_

_**OMG no update in forever! So sorry... Writer's Block... no muse for any story of mine... I promise I work harder!**_

_**No update in almost a month... I can't say that without breaking into hysterical sobs... (screams wildly)}**_

Raven's ankle connected with the magma with a sibilant, hissing noise as she tried to scream, but the volcanic smoke clogged up her throat, inflaming her alevolli. Her eyes began to tear as she slapped away the searing magma which was eating away at her skin, eyes wild.

Plunging a wrist in desperation into the molten rock, she screamed, a high keening shriek, as the magma gave off steam, her hand burnt horribly as she groped deeper in the magma.

At last, she found what she was looking for as she gasped in victory.

And then the magma swallowed her whole.

* * *

It was a sort of scarlet color underneath the searing magma as every inch of her body felt like it was going to melt, burn away into dust and smoke. Her skin was on fire, the heat hissed as her hair dissolved in the fire, as she screamed again. Lava poured down her throat, scarring the sensitive inside as she choked for breath, floundering in the fiery inferno. She just wanted to die- die, and let all the pain end, in the darkness of her closed eyes, instead of living and suffering through every passing second of it.

Underneath the surface, despite the blinding pain, it was a golden-vermilion color- it would have been quite beautiful, a bright, roiling river of plasma, if she hadn't been burning alive. Sightseeing could come later.

She held on to what she had found- an arm. Specifically, Robin's arm, miraculously still attached to the rest of him. Although, probably not for long. She could feel her skin liquefying, leaving flesh agonizingly exposed.

It was a good thing she couldn't see it in the blinding haze, and so can mercifully spare you from the complete description.

The green glove had burned away a long time ago, leaving Robin's trembling hand exposed. His body was a deadweight, supported only by Raven's firm grasp on his arm, obviously unconscious in the pain.

Raven scowled. The lucky little bird. No mercifully painless trance for the hardworking savior of them all.

She yanked at his arm, aware of how the magma began to consume his flesh. Even though it moved him toward her about a fraction of a centimeter, she felt dizzy and nauseous from the meager effort.

_Come. On. _she thought, gritting her teeth as she yanked at Robin's frame. _Just a little_ farther...

It wasn't that Robin was heavy or overweight- in fact, his unmoving frame was surprisingly light. However, with what measly strength she had left, she barely could keep her vitals going, much less pull a fellow Titan in a viscous, molten rock whirlpool toward her.

Grabbing his arm with both hands, Raven grunted as she pulled harder, the flaming stuff burning away her indigo boots, searing her feet as it tried to pull her down, further from the surface.

_One. More. Pull._

She yanked hard, pulling the pale arm toward her as Robin's stiff fingers touched her chakra.

There was a flash of blinding, black fire, and Raven's eyes glowed white as a corporeal bird screamed, flaring its colossal wings wide before collapsing over them in a rush of shadows against black.

* * *

Raven honestly knew squat about her destination as she hurtled through nothingness. It was a dead, creeping sensation, painful, yet numb, like she had been submerged in freezing water. More like liquid nitrogen.

Indistinct, fleeting voice, shrieked in the shadows, tearing visions of color in front of her eyelids. The faces leered out at her, but before any sense could be made out of their contorted features, they were sucked away in the endless void.

The world swirled around her in a vortex of red and black light, vague shadows bounding after her as she let herself be carried away in the nothingness.

_Please tell me Cyborg was joking about the quantum monsters in trans-dimensional vortexes. _she prayed silently. _Please tell me it was just a typical, everyday Beastboy-caused bluff to annoy me._

Something told her that there was no such luck.

Red and black flashed by in a swirling delirium, trying Raven's brain up in knots as she tried to distinguish something before her eyes, but nothing came. It was just a wild dervish of light, spinning, whirling, sucking her down into insanity and unconsciousness, pressing at the edges of her vision in a blurry haze...

Raven's eyes began to drift close in fatigue and comfort, letting herself fall into the endless void...

...when she hit rock bottom.

* * *

There was a sickening thud, and sharp gasp as every atom of breath was knocked out of Raven's lungs, and an awkward, silent standstill.

She hurt like crap, to say the least. Horrible burns covered every square inch of her body, and her deep indigo cloak was nothing but a filigree of holes connected delicately by blackened threads of fabric, resembling much like a purple spiderweb.

She groaned, doubling over on her side and retching repeatedly a sickly, clearish liquid- she hadn't eaten anything, leaving her frail and essentially helpless. She wanted to just go to sleep and never wake up (euphemism for die), but the aching pain would keep her awake, and besides, she was never that lucky.

"Robin?" she croaked feebly. "I think I deserve a 'thank-you'."

The wind howled in the dark cityscape, but otherwise, the landscape was still.

"Robin!" she managed to somewhat shout. "I'm not in the mood to play hide and seek!"

"I'm not." a multitude of voices chorused.

Raven started, slowly turning around.

And what she saw made her collapse into a miserable heap.


	22. Chapter 22

_**{Aaand... Robin returns in this chapter somewhat in multiple aspects, so Robin fans, don't worry.**_

_**Anti-Robin fans, he gets told off by Raven. (My Social Studies teacher must be so proud, conflict and compromise. Well, maybe just compromise, but...)**_

_**Read and review!}**_

Raven's eyes flickered open weakly, fluttering like a jarred moth's wings, a bright amethyst mauve hue which glimmered in the dull half-light with an ambiguous beauty. Apparently, someone's arm was supporting her head, as it was a couple inches off the ground.

"Wha-?" she managed incoherently, her tongue feeling like a slab of lead as she felt around, her blistered skin scraping the uneven ground as she hissed in pain.

Robin stared down at her and turned away, lifting his head up.

"Hey!" he yelled loudly. "She's up! Can I _please _be let off babysitting duty now?"

Raven was immediately offended. "_Excuse me_?"

Robin shrugged, scooching back across the cracked concrete pavement as Raven's head thudded against the rough ground.

"Ow!" she protested, wincing as she rubbed her head. "What's with you, you," she broke off, staring daggers at him.

Robin grinned and stood up, dusting himself off, giving a negligent, careless shrug. "Hey, not my prob that you smell like you've been taking showers in whale slob." He pretended to think. "Oh wait, you have."

Raven continued to glare at him, one of her eyes actually twitching with impatience.

His grin only widened, but hesitantly as he laughed nervously, resembling Beastboy greatly.

"Heh heh..." he stammered carefully. "It's true... you have..."

"Please, et tu Robin?" Raven sighed. "I really don't need another Beastboy in my life." She eyed him critically. "And why are you wearing _sunshine yellow?_"

Indeed, Robin's uniform was a bright yellow color, unlike the usual red and green with a black cape that he typically wore.

Robin shrugged noncommittally. "I dunno. Why?"

Raven opened her mouth to retort, but jumped up a few inches off the ground with a startled yelp that she would never admit to.

"That's what I've been trying to tell him," an identically sounding but completely different toned voice called from behind. "He just won't ever admit it. The Ugly Truth, I call it."

Raven turned, and nearly fainted again.

Behind her stood _another _Robin, dressed completely in a light silver shade.

Raven closed her eyes, pressed her hands to the sides of her head, and gently massaged the skin there with her fingertips, slowing her breathing.

"I'm hallucinating." she murmured. "When I wake up, it'll just be a bad dream. There won't be a Robin that has a perfect Beastboy brain clone, you won't be covered in unseemly burns, Trigon's still locked up in nowhere, and the worst of your worries will be Starfire's alien cooking and Beastboy's toenails all over the coffee table. Just relax. They won't be there..." she opened one eye.

Both Robins stared at her with confused expressions on their face.

"Why are you still here?" Raven asked.

Both Robins blinked behind their masks, obviously not getting it.

Raven blinked back. "Go on, disperse." She waved them away. "You all are just a crazy dream I'm having."

The Robins didn't budge a millimeter.

Raven narrowed her eyes in confusion. "Go on, scram. Chop chop."

"I'm a crazy dream?" the Robin in yellow echoed, pressing the heel of his palm hard against his forehead, mask scrunched up in concentration. "Am I the only one that's unable to put this into a reasonable thought process?"

The other Robin smiled kindly. "I think _she _is the one unable to, 'put this into a reasonable thought process', as you so accurately put it, my friend. We are very much real- you just don't want to accept it. Or perhaps your narrower mind cannot grasp the fundamentals of your own arcane powers? Or perhaps you have, ahem," he looked down awkwardly to his feet, shuffling around, "_feelings _for him, and you feel guilty for intruding upon his privacy...?"

Raven flushed red, annoyed that the last reason had been totally accurate, at least the first half at any rate, pulling her hood up to disguise the blush.

"You're talking about Robin like you're not him." she noted, desperate to divert the conversation away from this awkward subject.

The silver Robin looked back up at her, smiling again.

"Oh, I assure you," he said, nodding sagely. "I am him." He paused to think. "I take that back. I am, more precisely, _part _of him. The others have not yet arrived yet, besides," he jerked his head at the yellow Robin, "him."

Raven rolled her eyes. "Oh, how lucky I am to have you guys around. You two really straighten up matters. I would have thought I at least am given someone _intelligent _rather than a happy-dappy padawan Beastboy replica and an outdated sage spouting Confucius at me."

The silver Robin looked offended. "Confucius was a great philosopher and a knowledgeable man. And are you insulting my intellectual prowess?" He lifted his chin a bit higher. "Knowledge, and of course-" he glanced at the yellow Robin's left-out expression, "-innocence-" The latter straightened up happily, "- are important aspects of a benevolent soul. He smiled proudly. "Of course, I include elegance in my field of expertise also. I know fifty-two finger gestures of the Oriental lands alone. Would you like to hear them?"

"Thanks, but no thanks," Raven muttered quickly, then realized what he had said. "Waait..." she said suspiciously. "You said, _part of him _and _the others have not yet arrived_."

The silver Robin, Knowledge, smiled again as if pleased with a small, triumphant child. "Why, yes, yes, I did."

Raven jumped up, forgetting the wracking pains of her body.

_"I'm in Robin's mind?_" she bellowed.

_**{Oh, horrible chapter... :( I promise next one is better... I ended up saving the good part for the next one. (sobs)}**_


	23. Chapter 23

_**{Guest- Thanks so much for your support and enthusiasm! :D I certainly won't give up on this, no worries, unless if the world ends in five seconds... (Waits expectantly). Okay, I'll finish this!**_

_**Xaphrin- Oh yeah, clarification, Robin does not attempt suicide in Chapter 4. He's just a little nutty. If he attempted suicide he would probably go for fatal with the birdarang, but I suppose that was really hard to tell apart in the prose. Sorry. )**_

The yellow Robin, Innocence, backed away timidly, mask wide with fear.

"I swear, it wasn't me!" he yelped, unable to mask a scared squeal.

Knowledge looked at him. "In a way, it was, technically." he reprimanded him reproachfully.

The other Robin looked like he was going to cry.

"But we aren't going by formalities," the silver Robin added hastily, afraid that his yellow counterpart would start it up again. He turned to Raven, smiling serenely again. "Calm down, Raven. It's not so bad, I'm sure he would understand."

"Not so bad?" Raven yelled. "He is going to _kill _me!"

Knowledge shook his head again wisely. "No, no, not of this you are worried about. He, of course, would never do that. You are anxious for how the victim will think of you after this, after all...", he gave a secretive smile, "... the last reason."

A grey trash can glowed with obsidian black energy for a fleeting moment, then exploded, showering the Robins with banana peels and candy wrappers.

"As I said," the silver Robin muttered, flicking a rotten banana peel from his shoulder and swatting away flies buzzing around his head distastefully, "I include elegance in my field of expertise."

Raven's eyes were glowing with incredible energy as she opened her mouth in a bloodcurdling shriek, growing in size as her eyes shone vermilion, colossal black tentacles of dark blackness slithering out from under her indigo cloak. A shade of dark grey engulfed the isolated street as the trees shook in the howling wind, the lamp lights flickering out into darkness.

"My bad. I may have said the wrong thing." Knowledge muttered as Innocence screamed in fear.

Raven glared at them, a low, feral growl rumbling in her throat as she opened her mouth in another scream, a tentacles flashing out and rupturing the concrete like it was no more than a child's balloon, a spiderweb of cracks spreading across the surface as it shattered, tumbling down into nothingness. Drifting toward, them, mouth twisted in a terrible leer, she cackled as a second tentacle shot out, narrowly missing the petrified Innocence's throat, sparing the yellow doppelganger from a farewell party of his head to his shoulders.

"Take it easy," Knowledge soothed, palms up in a _I-don't-want-to-fight-gesture. _"Calm down."

A whiplash of darkness cleaved the ground into two as Knowledge instinctively leaped to stable ground, yanking the yelping Innocence after him as the woebegone road crumbled into the abyssal nothingness below.

"She's not taking it easy!" Innocence screamed, panicking.

Knowledge sighed, his eyes rolling behind his mask. "I realize that."

A horrible sound emanated from under Raven's drawn hood, a terrible mix between cruel laughter and sibilant, malevolent hissing. An aura of impure darkness flickered in the cold, harsh wind, blacking out the streetlights as she drifted slowly, deliberately, toward them. Her mouth twisted in a terrible leer, laughing insanely as she spread out her arms, her long, indigo cloak widening like two dark wings ready to engulf the world in darkness...

Innocence went right out and started shrieking like a little kid, eyes squeezed shut in terror, arms waving wildly in vast circles.

Raven's red eyes flickered as her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water, making some low noises which Innocence perceived as a growl, which only served to terrify him further, cranking up the volume of his bawling.

"H...h...ha..." Raven muttered slowly, eyes narrowed in concentration and confusion. "H...h...e...h...ha...h...a..." Her eyes fluttered more as the tentacles began to recede, swallowed under her rippling cloak as the figure shrank, slowly but surely...

Knowledge patted Innocence on the back, smiling. "Good job, friend."

Innocence stopped screaming for a moment, opening one eye. "Huh?"

Knowledge sighed. "I just complimented you for keeping Raven in check."

The yellow doppelganger blinked, "Wha-oh, thanks. Wait- what? Whaddya mean-"

Knowledge shook his head sadly. "Your neurons are not fully fused, my friend. I am surprised your more simple brain can halt such a formidable unbalanced state of chaotic emotion in its tracks."

Innocence beamed. "Thanks- wait, _what?_" he said quickly. "What you say? _I no do have a simple brain!_" he bellowed, flustered.

Knowledge pretended to tick off a finger as he went down a mental checklist. "Denial, check. Lack of articulate speech, check. Lack of correct grammar, check. Lack of ability to form sentences having more than a total of ten words, check. Failure of knowing what the Pythagorean theorem is despite more than necessary clues, aka telling you what it is then asking you five seconds after, check."

Innocence held up a hand. "Hold up," he said, concentrating hard. "I am using more words than Brains think I can use, so _pwnage_." he muttered, counting off on his fingers, beaming as he stared at ten erect fingers. "I _told you so! That's eleven words!_" he bragged, giving Knowledge a satisfied victory _I win you lose _smile and doing a weird shuffle disco dance. "_Dancing phalanges!" _He stopped. "Wait, what the heck are those?"

Knowledge sighed and facepalmed himself. "Lack of knowing what vocabulary they used, check. Nonsensical immaturity, check." He scanned Innocence up and down, head to toe. "I suggest my intelligence sparker tutorial lessons and therapy." he noted kindly. "We can start now if you'd like. Introductory offer- first ten classes are free. Others are named price, fifty US dollars minimum."

Innocence reached for his belt, pulling out two grimy pennies. "Umm..." he said nervously.

Knowledge groaned. "Fine, if you qualify, we will give financial support. Classes are free of charge."

Innocence grinned. "Thanks, man."

"Mostly." Knowledge added after a moment's consideration.

Innocence's disposition darkened a tad bit. "Oh..."

Raven coughed a little ways away, getting to her feet, swaying a bit as Knowledge rushed over and helped her up.

"Thanks," she croaked. Knowledge smiled understandingly back, then frowned as he turned around.

"Did I miss anything?" a familiar, cold voice drawled for behind as Knowledge murmured, "Oh dear."

Raven whirled around, stepping back in shock and anger as she saw what stood, half-slouching, in the shadows.

She had gotten quite used to nasty doppelgangers by now, but the one that stood behind her was completely unacceptable as her eyes narrowed in rage.

A shadowy figure stepped into the light as the eternally dying sunset light flickered onto his uniform, set apart from the others. Orange and black, metal framing the neck, tips of his mask cocked upwards.

The perfect image of the Apprentice.


	24. Chapter 24

_**{Epical Fail on updatingness... I'll spare you all the apologia... I shall work much harder, you see, I'm trying to finish... the end is in sight. Kinda.**_

_**cruelistnightmare- Thanks. :D I actually like your pen name's spelling, it looks cool. :)}**_

Raven stood, fists clenched and sparking with dark energy, desperately checking her emotions in check.

"You..." she snarled, gritting her teeth.

Apprentice threw back his head and laughed- not the carefree and easy laugh that Robin sometimes let loose when things were quiet, but a hoarse shrieking noise which sent shivers down her spine. Not fearful shivers- her entire frame was literally shaking with rage.

"_You?_" he whispered, his voice breathless with malice. "No warm welcome? Weren't you just dying to see me?"

Raven flushed red in embarrassment at Apprentice's reference to her emerging relationship with Robin before quickly regaining her emotional brick wall.

"Dying to kick your sorry behind," Raven hissed as a lamplight exploded nearby Apprentice's head, who swatted the serrated glass shards carelessly as he remained standing, an annoying smirk plastered on his face.

"I'd say that's a terrible bluff," he taunted. "You won't even touch me! Or are you just too scared to fight?"

A feral growl erupted from Raven's throat as she lunged, eyes glowing a murderous maroon as she lashed out with a whip of dark, crackling energy as Apprentice swiftly ducked it, retaliating with a swift kick at Raven's ribcage, the steel crashing into her solar plexus as she staggered back, doubled over, gasping for breath as she backed away.

"Had enough, you little witch? A little sense knocked into that deficient brain of yours?" Apprentice mocked softly, the corners of his mouth curled upwards in a cruel smile as he straightened, flicking a speck of dust off his shoulder casually.

"The only thing that needs anything knocked into it is some pain into that thick skull of yours," Raven snarled as sparks began to dance around her, engulfing her in black flame, certainly a terrifying sight.

Apprentice laughed, not deterred in the slightest as he cracked his knuckles and rotated his neck easily. "Bring it on. That is, whatever pathetically, measly much you can bring on."

Raven screamed in rage as she threw her indigo cloak wide, eyes glowing vividly from the immense power that slithered through her fingers, wrapping her in a inferno of darkness. A corporeal raven shrieked as it flared its opaque wings of blackness wide, plunging the road into darkness as the row of flickering streetlights combusted on themselves, one after another in quick precision. Shards of glass flew everywhere as electricity wavered on the cold, cracked pavement before guttering out, leaving them in complete blindness.

Apprentice backed away slowly, alert for the slightest notion of danger, hands out in front of him protectively. A rustle of wind grazed his cheek as he yelled, whipping around as a manhole smashed into his arm. Staggering back from the impact, he stared in the direction the disc had come, mask narrowed to slits.

Black wings shrouded in the deep darkness erupted into the air behind him with an earsplitting screech as a black tentacle flashed back out of nowhere, wrapping around Apprentice's throat as he grunted, straining to break its firm hold.

A pair of scarlet eyes flickered into existence as the black veil was torn apart, falling to the concrete where it slithered and writhed, Apprentice still held above the ground. Still struggling at the unforgiving stranglehold, his mask narrowing impossibly further as Raven threw back her head and laughed- an unholy, devilish cackle, her cloak swirling around her in a vortex of indigo.

Innocence stared up in terror and horror as he began to uncontrollably scream, the dark figure towering over him casting warped shadows across the dirty pavement.

Raven cocked her head to one side, a tentacle still grasping the now desperate Apprentice, regarding Innocence as a slow smirk almost lethargically spread across her face.

Innocence yelped as he was suddenly yanked behind a miraculously intact trash can, and not a moment to late- a lamppost slammed into the gross where he was a split second ago.

Innocence shuddered at his close encounter with death, shivering spasmodically before passing out in a disgusted Knowledge's arms.

"I regret pulling him out of there," he sighed, and dropped him unceremoniously on the debris strewn ground before bravely sneaking a peek around the receptacle.

Raven was too intent on her prey to notice Knowledge, maroon eyes glowing with a malevolent happiness and the intent to not merely terrify, but kill as she grinned at the now trembling Apprentice, showing rows of fang-like teeth.

Apprentice opened one eye, and squeezed it shut quickly.

Raven merely grinned further, drawing the tentacle carelessly toward her as Apprentice looked helplessly at Knowledge for help.

Knowledge watched for a second, hesitating, as Apprentice let loose a bloodcurdling scream.

Before Apprentice was sucked under the wavering indigo robes, there was a scarlet flash as a shock-wave tore violently through the earth, splitting it swiftly into two as black smoke rose into the air, suffocating Knowledge with the reek of burning flesh.

When the haze finally cleared, Raven was gone. All that remained was the still body of a doppelganger, and a strange rune carved into the earth.

A vague, serpentine S, blackened by ash, still smoldering with a fiery wrath.

The Mark of Scath.

_**{Making up for my hiatus, a dramatic plot for both Raven and Robin for next chapter- hope it's not too confusing. I'll try to squeeze a little Robin/Raven in the next chapter too, if not, the one after.**_

_**Hope you enjoyed, I'll get the next chapter ASAP. Review!}**_


	25. Chapter 25

_**{Taeniaea- Thanks. :)**_

_**Here we go... the prelude to the confusing chapter (I had to break the prose up)**_**.}**

Robin thought the ultimate low was drowning in magma.

Apparently not.

The flickering glow of the magma dulled his mind, tendrils of blackness eating away at the periphery of his vision, at first unnoticeable but swiftly growing, extending a shroud of darkness over him. The magma threatened to choke him, constricting his throat, sliding down his esophagus and searing its way down, consuming him from the inside out.

He tried to scream as he was cut off by another mouthful of magma, the pain shrieking as he felt like he was being torn apart, melting away into nothingness. Half-formed images shivered at the dark corners of his subconscious, ghostly images flickering before his closed eyes.

A flare of red flashed in his vision as he suddenly lurched upwards- too weak to resist, he allowed it to carry him away. Hot rock chewed hungrily away the the nearly indestructible titanium alloy cape, searing his skin as it let out a long, sibilant hiss, plumes of white smoke rising from the magma like a horde of haunted, vengeful souls.

His head was thrown back as he choked for breath, breaking the surface of the liquid rock, coughing up the hot stuff as it spewed out of his mouths like a small-scale volcano, falling onto his pale skin as it slid down slowly, leaving an ugly, blistered scar. Clawing feebly at his left, he managed to scrape his hand against something rough. Hissing in annoyance, he held his hand, his consciousness drifting away into nothingness before his eyes suddenly shot open like a jarred moth's wings.

_Something rough. _Stone.

Scrabbling frantically at his right, he half-swam, half-dragged himself toward the mystery offender, panting for breath as the magma slurped against his body, refusing to give its victim up as tendrils of white-golden molten rock curled around his arms and ankles, restraining him as he shouted at the top of his lungs, clawing at the rock (for it was), his last lifeline.

Grabbing a jutting piece of rock, he gasped for breath as he slowly extricated himself from the fiery grasp of the magma, scrabbling at the stone.

_Just... a... little... farther... _

Screaming as he lost his grip, he scrabbled for a hold on the rock, panting as the magma began to pull him back under. The scorching pain ravaged his body as his nerves screamed bloody murder, jagged lines of light lancing through his vision. Choking for breath, his head began to disappear back under the magma, never to emerge again...

"Give me your hand." a gentle voice whispered reassuringly.

Robin looked up as a pale hand with elegant, slender fingers reached out it him, connected to a thin, strangely beautiful yet at the same time darkly menacing girl in a long, vermilion gown. Black semi-real wings sprouted from her back, feathers intricately woven from pure darkness, arching gracefully into the air, ruffled ever so slightly by the screaming volcanic winds.

"Raven..." Robin murmured as he reached out, his own badly scarred and burnt hand touching the girl's as she grasped it firmly, her cool touch alleviating the searing pain.

The sylph smiled as she gently pulled him onto the stone as Robin fell onto his side, panting for breath.

"Thank you," he rasped.

"Don't thank me yet," the girl laughed.

Robin looked up, his mask narrowing to slits as he scanned the girl up and down warily. A flicker of fear passed over his face as he shook his head. "What do you mean?"

The girl smiled again, her eyes seeming to burn with violet fire as she threw back her head and laughed, not Raven's hoarse, half-hearted laugh, but an unearthly shriek of malevolent glee.

Robin watched in horror as the girl made a low, gurgling noise in her throat that erupted into a full-throated scream- a high, keening B flat. The earth shook in response as it moaned in agony, fissures spiderwebbing across the stone as it began to pulse with an unnatural light, rhythmically shuddering in time. Shadows hissed as they slowly spiraled out from their fiery graves, shooting out of the fissures as they snarled, wrapping themselves around the girl in a dark, foreboding inferno. Her fingers shivered and shook erratically as serrated talons, glimmering ebony, curved out in a cruelly sharp crescent. Blinking rapidly her eyes glowed vivid scarlet, seeming to split into two as pale golden-tan horns resembling a stag's sprouted from her head, her delicate feet hardening and morphing into hooves. She let out a another piercing scream that slashed through the burning atmosphere, thick with smoke, as runes glowed into existence on her bare arms, her throat, her face, her legs, marring her porcelain skin as the unmistakable S glittered with a malicious fury. The gossamer gown shimmered as it suddenly caught on fire, resplendent flames licking around her slender frame, her short violet hair lengthening into a lustrous mane of hair as she cocked her head to one side, smiling.

Robin let his hand slip through her talon, backing away, mask wide.

"What... are you?" he whispered.

"I'm who you think I am." Raven purred sweetly as she lifted her arms, twirling with a flourish of glistening fabric. "I'm Raven, aren't I?"

Robin stared up at her, frozen in shock. "No, you aren't." he snarled. "It's Triangle, isn't it?"

Raven leered down at him coldly. "That's not important." she laughed. "Robin isn't it? You share your name with a bird?"

Robin glared back at her. "What's it to you, you _witch?_"

Raven's eyes glittering with barely restrained fury. "No need to name-call, Robin. Do you wonder what it's like to fly?"

"What?" Robin echoed blankly.

Raven's smirk widened. "Flying, it's just like falling. The latter just has a... more permanent destination. Keep that in mind, alright?"

Robin opened his mouth to retort, before something clicked in him.

"Have a nice fall," Raven said innocently, as a chasm suddenly yawned out of the earth, swallowing Robin into darkness.


	26. Chapter 26

_**{Blanky- Of course not! Though, at the risk of sounding cliched, "Dead inside" is a pretty good description of his mental status in this chapter.**_

_**I hope it's not too confusing. This may be broken into two chapters, so the next may also be angsty. NO WORRIES, there's Robin/Raven at the end of all this hullabaloo. I know, I don't want this dark stuff either...**_

_**Apologia for the creepy bit at the beginning. It's necessary... By the way they ****AREN'T**** ZOMBIES****, going to clear that up. They are just ****MEMORIES****. (aka They aren't real. Robin is merely envisioning them because Raven formed the images of whoever he missed most [powers of the mind, yeah?])}**_

"Raven!" he called. "Raven! Why are you running away from me?"

The ghostly dark indigo figure only flew faster, crystal tears of mist drifting after her, hissing on contact with the air. Giving a choked sob, a tree glowed with intense black energy until it literally toppled on top of Robin.

He yelped, quickly weaving through the crashing branches as he rolled back onto his feet, scanning the dreary swamp desperately, but the girl was gone.

"Raven?" he pleaded despairingly. "_Raven!_ Please, come out! I didn't mean to-"

"Go away!" a hoarse voice sobbed. "Leave me alone!"

Robin looked up a skeleton tree, pushing away a tendril of ivy as he craned his neck upwards.

The pale girl was nestled in the crook of the tree, hands buried in her hands as she looked up angrily at Robin. "Go away, you murderer! Isn't killing me once enough for you?"

Robin shook his head. "Raven, I don't know what you're talking about-"

Raven laughed as she regarded Robin with those melancholy, broken eyes. "You left me to die, didn't you?" she said bitterly. "For Starfire."

"Raven, you have to understand-" Robin begged in vain.

Raven lifted her tear-streaked face to him. "Go away!" she shouted as her eyes glowed black, energy enveloping Robin and throwing him into the ivy where he yelped in pain, his head striking something rough.

Turning his head ever so slightly, he gasped in shock.

There were two gravestone, side by side. In worn writing covered by partially ivy, the first read:

_-Raven Roth-_

_Born December 21, 1991_

_Deceased December 11, 2007_

_A Teen Titan and A Friend_

_May Her Soul Forever Rest In Peace_

Robin shook his head in shock. "This can't be happening! Today was December 11! You were there, with me, under the magma!"

Raven shook her head and sighed. "Today isn't the eleventh of December 2007, Robin." she croaked sadly. "It's been thirty two years since I died. It's January 5, 2039." She laughed sourly. "Not that I really care, as I'm dead and everything."

Robin got to his feet, backing away. "It can't be. I must be hallucinating or something. It's just a nightmare, albeit a horribly realistic one. I'll just wake up, and nothing's wrong. And Starfire... Starfire..."

_-Koriand'r "Starfire"-_

_Born 1991, Unknown Date_

_Deceased December 9, 2007_

_A Teen Titan and A Friend_

_May Her Soul Forever Rest in Peace_

Robin turned away from the grave markers, eyes stricken and wild.

Raven looked at him sadly as she slipped from her perch, walking toward him. "Robin, when we were under the magma... I got you to touch my chakra. The energy it took to temporarily shield you was too much, Robin. And when my power was all used up... I had to pay the price..."

Robin stepped toward Raven, hand lightly brushing her translucent shoulder. "Raven, I'm sorry..."

Raven recoiled quickly, fresh tears streaming down her face. "Don't touch me!" she shrieked. "My blood is on your hands! It's your fault I died! It's your fault I never got to see Beastboy again..." her voice trailed off in grief as she hung her head.

"Rae," Robin began uncertainly.

"Shut up shut up shut up _shut up!_" Raven screamed in a shrill voice. "He's here! He's _here! Help me!"_

The wind picked up in an eerie howl as the dead leaves rustled amongst the row after row of crumbling tombstones as a wispy vapor began to rise in the air as Robin drew in his breath sharply, backing away.

The mist morphed into faces, faces of his memory, faces he knew, that he loved- his mother, his father...

But their eyes. Their eyes were empty, devoid of any emotion. Shells. Fragments of life, broken by death and never to heal again.

Robin turned and ran, but not fast enough as his screams, not of physical pain but of mental agony, rebounded through the night, terrorized by the horrors of his own imagination...

_**{OK I definitely had to break this up. I already hit my average-ish number of words per chapter here and I don't want a random super-long one, so. The next chapter should be up really fast. Hopefully.}**_


	27. Chapter 27

_**{OMG I haven't updated in forever, I'm sorry, I lost my account password to my email and Fanfic. I'm back now and writing as fast as I can.  
**_

_**omg- I'm sorry, he isn't dead, as you will shortly find**** out.}**_

It was a great way to wake up, you know, jolting up while you're sitting on the smoking dilation of the big baddie and expected to get up and save the world before you can even take a nibble of your blueberry muffin.

Robin gasped as consciousness hit him full force, his heart thudding painfully against his ribcage as he managed to somewhat sit up.

He was sprawled out, apparently, on a drab grey slab of rock, magma licking the stone with its fiery tongue greedily as he scooched back wisely from the edge.

The first thing he noticed was that he wasn't dead.

The second thing he noticed was that he wasn't breaking down in a cemetery in 2035 with a paranoid Raven slash ghost come to haunt you for your hypothetical crimes thing.

_Cool. _he thought randomly, then instantly facepalmed himself.

What a lame thing to say. You end up nice and safe on a rock in the middle of nowhere, and the only thing you can think of is _cool._

It certainly was _not _cool. Just because he had managed to drag himself out (or at any rate, someone had dragged him out) of the earth's cheese fondue pot did not mean everything was air-conditioned and ice cream swirls. It was quite a far cry from that.

He was, of course, still sitting in the esophagus of a volcano in sweltering conditions not particularly supportive of life. As it happened, an active one.

Certainly _not cool_.

He drew whatever remained of his tattered rags of a cape closer to him, not because he was hot- he was stuck in the world's biggest barbecue pit. You may laugh at the image of Robin shish kabobs (the new original delicacy for malevolent monstrosities! Unfortunately, this delicious delicatessen deal involves jumping in the midst of an mostly endless chasm which will end in your well-done burnt-to-a-disintegrated-crisp demise.) but honestly. It wasn't funny. Mostly.

Thankfully, his clothes somehow remained, to a certain extent, intact. Admittedly, smoking holes gaped in certain parts of the soot-blackened woebegone fabric, but it still was acceptable over important bits, if you catch his drift.

What was not intact was his skin.

It had cracked and blistered into an ugly mess, oozing out something not very appetizing. Congealed blood matted his black hair where he had banged his head against the sharp stone, its usual luster completely lost as it lied limp, singed badly at the edges.

Robin tried to shake his head and mess with his hair a bit in an attempt to force it to spike up in his signature hairstyle, but of course, the last vestiges of miraculously existent hair gel wasn't taking it anymore.

Robin then appreciated the full potential of his mask. It would be hilariously embarrassing to be caught with no eyebrows as he massaged the general vicinity of his forehead. What would he have to do now for these melodramatic, romantic moments of the mask-removing, paint a pair on with soot the next time he asked Raven out? It'd be hysterical if it rained. Even so, he wasn't a great artist.

_Wait, what?_ '_Asked _Raven _out_'?!

An awkward power shortage of his neurons ensued.

Robin decided to get on with the saving the world bit before he combusted from all this emotional turmoil.

His love life could wait.

The Mark of Scath, carved into the rock under him, smoked as it glittered with a malignant mystique. The portal beckoned, wide open for all that dared to enter it.

_Raven, I'm coming._

_**{Terrible chapter, but the next will be better. Will update hopefully soon, read and review please!  
**_

_**Until next time!}**_


	28. Chapter 28

It was a complete, total mess.

Robin yelped, springing upwards for the thousandth time that day (could it be weeks inside this emptiness? months? years? decades? He tried not to think about it.) as an inadvertently kicked pebble skittered down the uneven path, the sound echoing eerily within the eternal expanse.

"Hellooo?" he called into the expanse.

There was, inevitably, no response.

Treading carefully on the roughened (how? wind? rain? ice? There were no clouds- not even a sky, at any rate) rock, he picked his way amongst the serpentine path, trying not to fall over the edge and dash himself into a mess of infinitesimal iotas.

Looking up, he saw a great arch- stone fangs protruding from its crude, yet elegant form, forming a gateway to- nowhere at all.

Confused, he looked through the empty arch, stepping closer as he brushed what would be the surface- his hand melted through.

But when he looked beyond his wrist, there was nothing where his hand should be.

Frowning, he leaned forward, allowing the darkness to take him, falling,

Falling,

alling,

lling,

ling,

ing,

ng,

g,

into

NOTHING

_**{Sorry for short chapter, it'd ruin the mood. This is, yeah, a prelude, Next chapter will be up in a sec.**_

_**I may use that in later Fanfiction, it's a great mood- :D}**_


	29. Chapter 29

_**{Well, I don't think you guys caught it, but that last chapter's end was supposed to kinda advertise my new Harry Potter fanfic and so is this one... :P But seriously, please go read it, it's called "DISAPPARITION". Now. Well, after this one. And you know the drill, Read and Review! Thanks!**_

_**Blanky- Sorry, I needed to kickstart myself after such a long hiatus...**_

_**Almost done, almost done! Almost to the final battle! Hang in there guys!}**_

It was so cold- colder than he had ever imagined.

And then, it came.

A blast of fiery heat, a raging inferno, hitting him full-force as he gasped, suspended in the air by an unknown force. It was like time had stopped fully, for a split second, as he hung there, frozen in time, frozen for an eternity of a second.

And, just as quickly and as long, that second was over.

Falling swiftly, he screamed, the wind whipping his cape behind him alike the coma of a dying star, everything blurring into a miasma of grey and scarlet, faster and faster, until the entire world seemed no more than paint quickly smeared, flashing through the air, onto an empty canvas wiped clean just as fast.

Then the inevitable landing, as he closed his eyes, refusing to see the earth soaring up to meet him, the earth that would break his bones into no more than a pile of calcium dust.

A colorless liquid coated him, catching him, embracing him as a loud gargled _slurrrp_ sounded as the stuff encased him.

He was alive. Which was cool.

Almost immediately, the substance withdrew, slithering back into the crevices of what appeared to be hard, solid obsidian rock, glimmering oddly in the fire-light as it faded from view.

_Odder and odder, _Robin thought as he slowly got up, rubbing his head as he blinked rapidly to disperse the luminous rosettes that wavered, like flickering candlelight, before his vision. _AND WHAT IS WITH THE FIRE._

Yes, there was the ever-present lava. Bubbling, frothing, steaming, venting, your good old barbecue pit.

Making a face at the viscous molten rock, he stood up, surveying his surroundings.

It would have been rather pretty, you know, the fluffy rainbows and unicorns and butterflies pretty, with pink, pastel carnation pink, everywhere, _everywhere_, the type you'd find in a little girl's daydreams. But now, _now, _it was a mess. Lava slurped as it greedily gnawed at the stout, cute little trees (that's how adorable it was. Trees can be cute), singeing the edges of the fluttery butterflies which struggled in the slow moving Pu`O`o lava, inextricably ensnared in the red glow as the magma sluggishly rose over them, relishing their pain, enjoying the quickly dwindling life drowning it its midst.

Robin looked quizzically at the pink, despite it's charred and battered form.

_Nuh-uh. No way this has to do with Raven, must have taken a wrong turn somewhere or missed an exit. _he thought dubiously, convinced.

_"Robin..."_

He looked upwards in surprise.

Well, whaddya know.

It was Raven.

But he wasn't happy with the Raven here.

Raven was dressed in her usual leotard, ruffled boots, and long, flowing cape with the bird's head hood, but everything was a bright magenta. But it wasn't her sudden change in fashion paraphernalia that upset him. It was the condition she was in.

Ugly, oozing welts scored by fire and rock crossed and double-crossed her skin, marring its ashen yet beautiful mystique, congealed blood a deep, dark crimson, grotesque lips from the mouths of the numerous scars and tears ripping up her skin. Her cloak was in tatters, a fragile, blackened spiderweb draping across her skeletal frame. Her leotard was in alright condition, albeit dark with soot, which was great and reduced the awkwardness level, but her body was merely a stick hanging in her traditional clothing, the fabric falling loosely around her. Her chakra jewel, normally a bright and healthy vermilion, resembled something like a whip's welt positioned awkwardly on her bruised and battered face. The scleras of her eyes were a light dove grey, the irises the color of a few days old bruise, the pupils more of a dark grey than black.

"Raven," Robin whispered.

"Robin..? Robin!" she croaked. "Just-"

Robin cut her off with an abrupt, knife-wise movement of his left hand. "Don't exert yourself, Raven. I'm coming."

"_Robin!_ _Rorhyn! Whrbn! H-_" she screamed, her voice faltering with each cry, until finally, with a sickening snap, she fell silent, eyes wide and pleading, brimming with tears.

Robin smiled encouragingly as he drew two birdarangs, stabbing them into the weakened tree- he didn't want to risk a grappling hook and send it toppling down into the lava. "I'm coming, Raven, I'm coming, don't worry-" He began swiftly up the towering tree, gaining good distance from the ground.

His reassurances were cut off abruptly as a surprised look flickered across his face like a fleeting shadow, a summer storm passing swiftly by, dramatic yet quick to start and to close. And he fell.

He continued to fall, and this was his longest yet, this was is longest, because Raven had to watch, to watch him fade, slowly, surely, away.

And this time, she knew that Robin was gone.

Robin was gone, and he was not there to be with them anymore.

Robin was gone, and he was not there to be with her anymore.

And her silent mourning began.

And her heartbreak began.

And here he had ended.

And here it had all ended.

And here the curtain fell.

But the veil can be torn down once more...

And nothing is truly over.

_**{So... close... my firstborn fanfiction is almost completely grown :D**_

_**And, of course, read and review!}**_


	30. Chapter 30

_**Jenna Berry365- Thank you, but I'm afraid you may have arrived a little late, this fanfiction is so close now to completion (next to last chapter). :) But, there might be a sequel, I'm pretty convinced I will make one. I know it's a little weird, I'm sorry if it disturbs you, but (like my profile says) I prefer a surreal angle to my fan-fictions, I can put deep meaning into it that way.**_

_**And thank you to you all who have followed me so long and faithfully this hard and many times postponed, hiatused, etc. etc. etc. first fan-fiction with its horrible sentence structure and numerous typos.**_

_**And for, like Raven says in Season 4, this ends now.**_

_**Thank you for giving it a second chance. And now, I hope you enjoy the prelude to the final chapter of "Drifting Apart".**_

_**Don't be discouraged by the beginning, as Robin says, "Nothing's hopeless."}}**_

There was nothing left for Raven. Nothing.

For Robin was gone, her friends were no longer her friends, her father had won, and everything, _everything,_ had become meaningless to her.

But there was always meaning.

And as he fell, as he fell into the depths of darkness and fevered light, to slumber in the dreamless, eternal sleep, to rest screaming, knowing that he had failed.

They had failed.

And she had failed him.

And for that she grieved.

She grieved totally, completely. For the lost causes, lost dreams, lost opportunities, lost happiness.

Her father seriously needed to take parenting courses.

But then she remembered.

He had died. For her. And so, she must not let his sacrifice fade away null, void.

And though her throat was broken, her heart was not. It would not, because she remembered.

**_"THIS ENDS_ _NOW."_**

And her word was truth, that moment, was pure truth and passion in its full clarity, its full power.

And though her tongue had fallen silent, her soul had not.

The thought-scream was so loud, so enraged, the earth shook. It shook, in the devastating force of her cry.

And Trigon came. He came, because like father, like daughter.

They thought alike, the same, exactly the same.

For this moment, this fleeting second, this iota of time passing.**  
**

And it did end.

It did end, and now.

For she would not let go.

Trigon better watch out, this time, because only one would get out of this mess alive.

_**{Kept it short for drama. And now, finally, the end. The end is next, and the end it is.}**_


	31. Chapter 31

_**{Blanky- Ha-ha, PLAGIARISM. Just kidding, like you are. :) Oh yes, Robin died. I assume you are not a Robin fan at all?**_

_**Ahsolako- It's fine. Thanks for continually following this! Alright, the epilogue will be sweet. :)**_

_**And here is the end, Part 1. But, there is an epilogue and quite soon, a sequel. XD So stay tuned, I guess.**_

_**I had to break it up, sorry, too much stuff to put in, can't fit it all in one chapter. So the end will last longer haha,}**_

And he came.

People had many names for him. The Demon King, the Wraith of Fire, all that.

But the number of nicknames you had honestly didn't matter now, even though Raven had a whole lot of them to compete with.

The important thing was that he was symbolized, no, he _was _the end, the apocalypse, the final, the destroyer of worlds.

But today, he wouldn't be destroying anything.

Her voice, the voice of her soul, echoed about the cataclysmic chaos, rebounding and ricocheting off the unseen boundaries of her mind, voluminous in its ferocity as it joined, all her emotions, into one full-throated chorus of rage.

_**"THIS ENDS NOW! COME**** OUT!"**_

She didn't care. She didn't care about what would happen to her, she didn't care if she died, she didn't care about how stupid this was to take on her father while he was a full strength, she didn't about anything, anything. All she cared about was her anger, the inferno raging inside her, she kindled it, fed it, fanned it higher and higher until its black-tongued flames licked the ceiling, hungrily devouring anything that fell into its path and leaving a trail of destruction behind it.

Her power burned within her, roaring as it tried to claw its way up out of her throat, spewing black fire and dark magics, its emotional prison rattling and trembling as the normally carefully controlled chains manacling it to the bottom of her being shivered and shook, holding for an instant before it snapped, and all chaos broke loose.

_**"CO****ME**** OUT!"**_

And he rose to meet her.

Trigon, the bane of the mortal world.

Trigon, the destroyer of humanity.

Trigon, the merciless blaze which ignited all hearts with hatred.

Trigon, her other-worldly father.

He was as strong as he was before, no, even stronger, ever more magnificent and formidable, even more ruthless, even more unforgiving, even more thirsty for blood, for the reek of death and decay, for the stench of burning flesh, for the ashes of once Utopian paradises, lives, dreams, spiraling off on the grieving she-winds.

The magma parted, swirling concentric scarlet and black, sloshing, gurgling, laughing malignantly as he ascended, slowly. The tips of ivory antlers slowly appeared, released from their submerged waiting, black rock intermixed with vermilion fire sliding, oozing, viscous flames off the glinting horns. It was followed by deep maroon skin and pure white hair, shimmering, gossamer-like threads of ethereal substance, the essence of time itself, floating on the water before slowly lying flat upon the rising crown slashed with black runes and scars of ancient battles long ago.

And then the eyes. Those ruby, garnet eyes, glittering with handsome yet malevolent mystique, glowing with an unnamed and forgotten power long since buried within the fiery heart of the earth. Oh, they called it primitive and antiquated superstition, these mysterious marks and burns upon his scarlet flesh. No, but he knew better. These, coupled by his unbridled power, became something greater, harnessing the very essence of the violent earth itself. And as this planet which gives us life blesses us with this fertile land, it also takes away, it takes away through the very rain which flows through our body, diluting the blood in our veins, and it takes away in the form of Trigon's wrath.

Fire. It was never satisfied, always wanting, always wanting to destroy more, take more lives, burn it all up to the sky.

And for this, he loved it.

And the fangs, the fangs like the tusks, the sword-like knives of the wild mountain boar, stabbing, slashing through flesh and bone. They shone in the half-light, shadows dancing across his scored and bloodstained teeth, shadows like flickering gypsies thrown across the enamel by the prancing flames below, slithering up the burning stone.

And he grew, straightening, stretching, towering over her. And deep within his throat, his being, his existence, a sort of feral fury burst from within him as he roared, his jaws wide open in his hunger for the stench of blood to stain the smoky atmosphere, to devour the pain and agony he would inflict upon his victims, his enemies, and laugh as they trembled before him, begging for the mercy that had never existed.

And he stood before her, in his full glory, fiery wrath sending concentric coils of flame in its heated inferno, licking at the periphery of Raven's vision.

And Raven transformed.

She was no longer the frail girl in the limp leotard and tattered cloak, hanging from a tree in her own consciousness.

She was no longer the shy girl in Titans tower, hiding behind her spell books and the automatic, constantly locked door guarding her bedroom threshold.

She was no longer even the girl of power when Malchior had made her felt real, complete, unstoppable.

She was no longer even the grown girl with the glinting indigo mane dancing in the wind, body a blazing beacon of pure white energy clashing with her dark, formidable power.

She was no longer even the girl of righteous anger, banishing her father to Limbo for what she had believed was forever.

She was no longer herself.

And yet she was totally herself.

She was something more, something at the zenith of her power, something at the divine, highest stage of purity and strength achieved not even by her years of focused meditation and practice.

And she transformed.

Concentric coils of serpentine black on white wrapped around her, embracing her, just her being, her secret, locked away and forgotten wrath. And her entire self was enrobed in blinding black and white, the furious fire of her essence roaring as it raged around her, morphing her into her true form. A scream of pain tore from her throat as she threw her head back, but it grew in clarity and volume until it was a raging spear of light and darkness together, one, lancing through the heavens and beyond. And what was a cry of agony, torture, and hopelessness rose into a scream of a banshee, heralding her transformation, her powerful ascent into her complete entity.

She was not White Raven or Dark Raven.

In her harmony of thought and emotion, she was Raven.

Raven.

Raven, the portal.

And she might have not been the Gem, the Gem was Robin, but she was.

She was the portal of light and darkness, chaos and order, evil and good, hatred and love, all of it.

For without light there was no darkness, and without darkness none could be called light.

And she was.

And that was the pure truth.

And she learned to love it, to embrace her whole being.

And nothing could stop her now.

And when fire clashed with fire, the whole world would go up in flames.


	32. Chapter 32

_**{**__**Blanky- Yup, I decided to advertise her a bit XD But seriously guys, read hers, it's a great Maximum Ride fanfic. Sorry, I love starting these dramatic ones starting with and, I like writing these in more of a flamboyant style, you know, ramp up the excitement?**_

_**It's like you can never let go, huh? XD Well here's the other half of the finale. Enjoy, and don't forget there's an epilogue and a probable sequel. Once the sequel comes out I'll post a notice about it, so stay tuned to this!**__**}**_

And the whole world would go up in flames.

Fire upon fire, darkness upon darkness, anger upon anger.

But one for the protection of the earth, and one to annihilate it.

And she was for love, and he was for hatred.

Which shall prevail when all is literally at the burning stake?

Raven and Trigon screamed in unison as a singular flame erupted from their chakras, frail at first, but then, feeding from, _consuming _the other's strength, it grew and bloomed, spreading its crackling energy in a flamboyant display of exploding light and shadow until the whole world was alight in its power and splendor, a raging lightning spear, a roaring thunderbolt.

And fire and fire met.

It was an ancient power reborn, rejuvenated, given authority to rage and destroy, yet to create also.

And these two universal truths and lies, these two sides of light and darkness, these two brothers of creation and of destruction, these two opposites, they joined together in one great elixir of life and death.

For one second, this universal truth blazed on and on, the combined power of all the earth singing its ancient melody, enchanting, perfect, complete, total.

And then, like, fire and ice, they could not exist together.

And in this fraction of a second, the world inside Raven's mind fell apart.

For this was too much, and this harmony of two was cleaved, doomed to fall separate, spiraling, falling, fading away into nothing but broken promises, shattered memories and darkness.

And the demon, roaring, he clawed at the heavens, his great maw opened in a bellow of wrath and unparalleled, majestic, yet animal fury, screaming his victory to the skies as for a fleeting moment, he had won.

The Mark of Scath burned bright upon his forehead as he glowed with all the glory, all the power in the world.

And in this fraction of a second, the explosions began.

And greed had consumed his self, his soul.

And he was no more.

But the girl remained. Barely alive, but she remained.

And now, for the first time, she felt truly alone.

And she was alone in the world.

And she was alone.

Without them.

Without him.

Without anybody.

Mostly.


	33. Epilogue

Yes, you heard me right. If you don't believe it go back and check the end of the last chapter.

Mostly.

Because she wasn't alone, not at all.

Raven sat, huddled, her former glory and strength dissipating into the volcanic wind as she drew her knees close to her, her formidable energy and stamina as the Portal totally spent.

She had won.

So why was she so utterly devastated?

She watched the lava swirl by, receding into the ground with an odd parting _slurp_ as it slowly was absorbed into the ground, the customary pinkish cotton candy colored turf of Happy's home dimension springing up as the last of it was sucked into the heart of the Nevermore.

And it was so.

Never more.

Never more would her father come and torture her.

And just as the good always came in a package deal with bad, never more would she see them.

Her friends, so many in number, and now so many gone, null, void, forever.

They had been a part of Trigon. Just as she had destroyed her father, she had destroyed them.

And she was alone.

Alive, but alone.

But what was the point of living without them?

Specifically, without him?

It's amazing how wrong people can be sometimes.

Picking herself up, she wandered amongst the now sprouting and blooming wildlife, smiling as a bird chirped in a nearby bough, plucking a strawberry from the capricious zephyr heralding the sweet fragrance of sakura cherry blossoms as it gently kissed her face. She was so astounded as to how she could have ever hated the magenta doppelganger, she was so, well, happy. Full, innocent, cheerful, enjoyable.

She mentally made a note to apologize to her pink self.

Leaning against a regenerating pink and cinnamon striped tree, she smiled, a sad, poignant smile, biting into her strawberry, savoring the clear, sweet taste that settled across her tongue pleasantly.

And, suddenly, she laughed.

And, suddenly, she cried.

It was like it was all mixed together, laughter and lies, appreciation and anger, giving and gaining, teams and tears, friendships and faults, gloom and glee, ire and innocence, poverty and prosperity, mixed up in that confused brain of hers, all together and jumbled up, and for some reason she liked it that way.

She liked it that way, because she had learned to embrace herself.

He liked it that way, because he had learned to embrace her.

_"Raven,"_

The spiked and gelled jet-black hair, the mask slightly narrowed from amusement, the hesitant smile, the slender yet strong frame.

She didn't remember anything but a muddled blur then.

All she knew, all she cared, was that he was there, he was holding her, he would never let her go.

And it was like a flood of memories, washing over them, racing through her mind as she tried to think, tried to sort it all out as she opened her mouth to speak.

"Robin-"

"Don't, Raven, I know."

And then his lips were on hers, just for a fleeting second, just for a lasting eternity.

And in that moment, she understood how it was to be happy.

And just as the magic of the Nevermore had healed itself, so had her heart.

And the pain was over.

And the healing had begun.

And here it has only ended.

And here it has only begun.

But this couldn't last.

For he jerked away, eyes filled with fury and hurt as he glared at her shoulder.

"Robin?"

He couldn't respond through his anger.

He was too busy steaming at a group of guilty (two-eyed!) Titans awkwardly standing there, sheepish grins on their faces as they attempted to hide disposable cameras behind their backs.

_**-THE END-**_

_**Not.**_

_**Or rather, to be continued.**_

* * *

_**(insert a fevered ovation of applause soundtrack here)**_

_**Bravo! Encore! Well done!**_

_**...**_

_**No? **_

_**Fine, maybe next time.**_

_**I'm not crying because my sister is sitting on the couch perpendicular to mine, but I am experiencing a moment of glorious euphoria right now.**_

_** I have to thank all of you readers for following this fledgling first fanfiction of mine throughout the beginning to the end, braving horrible sentence structures, awkward accidental typos, etc etc etc.**_

_**And when I look at my first chapter (didn't know single-line breaks existed!) I facepalm, and when I look at the end I still facepalm, but when I look at the reviews, I cease my facepalming and positively jump up and do my happy dance (for the sake of your sanity I will not embarrass you by demonstrating my complete two-left-feet-ness). So thank you for all your support and feedback, I really do appreciate it and it has helped and encouraged me immensely. :)**_

_**This fanfiction has been my most succesful, albeit my first, and I'm still brimming with muse for this. So, yes, a sequel will be published shortly (keep watching and tracking this, I'll post the URL and other information in the form of a chapter when it does come out!) around July, give or take, so I can't wait to get back to you all and continue Raven and Robin's stories. It'll be called "From The Ashes REBORN" and it will also be very active! I'll probably, like, update every day XD.**_

_**I will be writing other fanfiction during this time though, so be sure to check them out if you have time!**_

_**So, until next time and I'll spare you the super long end A/N version frothing in my brain so you can get back to that great fanfiction you were reading before this/writing your own epic one,**_

**_~SAPPHIRINE_**


	34. SEQUEL RELEASE: 'From the Ashes REBORN'

_**/s/9491969/1/From-the-Ashes-REBORN**_

* * *

**And it's out! The sequel to Drifting Apart!**

_**YOU CAN FIND IT ON MY PROFILE, CLICK MY NAME AT THE TOP OF THIS FANFICTION AND SCROLL DOWN TO THE STORIES. CLICK ON THE LINK THAT READS 'From the Ashes REBORN'**_

Certainly delayed, I'm really sorry for the wait, but at least it's there now. I apologize for any misunderstanding or inconvenience!

I promise to make this even better than this (to the best of my ability), I certainly do hope that you will enjoy this continuation of Robin and Raven's story told in this fanfiction!

_**Please read, enjoy, and certainly follow and review!**_

Thank you for your continued support, all, and I sincerely hope that From the Ashes REBORN rises up to meet your expectations!

_**- SAPPHIRINE**_


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